


Little Situation

by jimblejamblewrite



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 105,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27527827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimblejamblewrite/pseuds/jimblejamblewrite
Summary: For years, HYDRA had been trying to use the samples of Steve’s DNA to make another super-soldier. They finally succeed and when S.H.I.E.L.D. breaks her out, Cap is forced to come face to face with his kid and figure out parenting on an Avengers’ lifestyle.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Peter Parker/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers/Child(platonic), Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

The absolute last thing the Avengers wanted to see in a busted down shawarma shop was a pristine looking Nick Fury. They sighed and took aggressive bites of their food as the Director stepped into the restaurant, trying to avoid the rubble. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt your fun—”

“Are you really?” Tony cut him off but Nick continued as if he didn’t. 

“You’re needed back at S.H.I.E.L.D. we have a little situation involving Cap.”

“Little situation?”

“About, ye big.” Nick held up a hand at a height in between his chest and waist. 

No one knew what the hell he meant. They took final bites and dragged their bodies from the chairs and followed Nick. Thor, Steve, and Bruce were already feeling less tired making the other three Avengers a little jealous as they made their way to headquarters. Nick guided them to the large conference room and left for a brief moment. When he returned, the newly formed Avengers looked at the kid tucked behind him. Her hair was tangled and matted which stood out against the small S.H.I.E.L.D. t-shirt turned dress she wore that had her looking relatively clean… and she was barefoot?

“Oh, an actual little situation. When in the hell did you get a kid?” Tony asked. 

“She’s not mine dumbass, that’s where Captain Rogers comes in.” 

The team turned to look at Steve who seemed just as shocked and confused. Nick pointed the girl to the empty chair beside Steve. She quietly walked over, hands clasped behind her back, and sat down. She pulled the chair into the table and only looked at Nick, not knowing anyone else in the room. Although the girl barely knew the director, but a few hours was more than the rest of the people at the table. 

There were two thoughts going in the Avengers’ heads. One, how the hell did Steve have a child who was clearly too old to be right after he was taken off ice. And two, she looked absolutely nothing like Steve. Brown hair, skin, and eyes. Everything opposite the Abercrombie & Fitch poster boy. 

“Miss Rogers was rescued from a HYDRA facility, an attempt at reopening the Red Room. Along with Dr. Erskine’s stolen notebooks apparently some of your DNA was also stolen, Cap. Miss Rogers is the first child to survive after birth.” 

“You’re positive she’s the only one?” Clint asked, his fatherly instincts already kicking in. 

“Yes. While we couldn’t recover Dr. Erskine’s files, we found their logs. None of the other children seemed to survive, inheriting some of Cap’s ailments from before the serum or their mothers died before giving birth.”

Steve shifted uncomfortably. “And when we say DNA…”

“Dr. Erskine ever hand you a cup not for a drug test… your silence answers that for me. We’ll gladly do a paternity test again with you here but from the swabs when we defrosted you, it’s a match.”

Nick tossed a file to Steve and pulled up the same one on a screen for the rest of the team to see. Steve flipped through it, seeing the child's age. Twelve. Born at the turn of the new millennium. According to the file, HYDRA picked her mother based on IQ— apparently one that could rival Tony or Bruce— kidnapping her when on a graduate trip to Russia. The child was supposed to be the perfect combination of the best attributes… and then they killed her mother in front of her when she was old enough to process death. HYDRA spent years trying to break her so they could send her into the Red Room and remold her as the perfect spy. But instead of breaking the child, they just made her retreat into her shell. 

“Miss Rogers did inherit some of your former ailments, Cap. Partial deafness and color blindness.”

“You were color blind?” Nat asked at the same time Clint asked about him being deaf. 

“Yeah, born deaf in my right ear and deutan color blindness. Made it hard to tell the difference blue and purple most times, not too bad. The asthma and scarlet fever was a lot worse.” 

Steve looked back at the file and saw it was recorded that she had moderate deafness also in her right ear, which was the current side of her face he was staring at, but she was hard of hearing in the other. The color blindness was the same as his. He frowned as he searched for an identification other than Rogers. He tapped the child on the shoulder and she turned to look at him. 

“What’s your name? They didn’t include it.” 

“001.” 

Steve looked back at the table. “You’re kidding, they didn’t even… your mother didn’t name you?”

“They wouldn’t let her.”

“Do you have one you’d like?”

The girl just shrugged and looked at the floor before looking back up realizing she'd rather read his lips for ease of conversation. 

“Is Sarah okay?”

She nodded. 

“That was my mom’s name… do you know your mother’s?”

The girl brought her knees up and grabbed them as the tears started. Quickly she panicked and wiped them away mumbling sorry. Steve almost reached out and then pulled back, thinking it was a bad idea. She was used to getting hit by agents at the facility if she cried. 

“No one’s going to hurt you here for showing emotions,” Natasha spoke up, hoping that the girl would hear a little bit since her head was currently buried. Nat knew exactly what the child was going through.

She kept crying and they knew she didn’t. When her knees brushed against the table, Clint started knocking on it. The vibrations made her look up at him and he tapped his own ears, drawing attention to his hearing aids. Clint signed what Nat had said. 

“Elise,” the girl said looking back at Steve.

“Alright, Sarah Elise Rogers. That sound good to you?”

When the girl nodded, Steve seemed satisfied. They disbanded and he pulled Tony and Clint aside. Right away, Tony agreed to getting Sarah fitted with hearing aids like Clint only in a color that worked for her. And Clint agreed to help him with sign language.

“I thought you would’ve known a bit.”

Clint was sitting outside the lab with Steve, watching Tony fit Sarah with hearing aids. 

“My mother told me to read lips and always turn to the left. She was Irish and a single mom, she didn’t want another reason for people to look down on us.” 

“I’m sorry man… are you sure you can take care of a kid? Don’t tell anyone else I told you but I’ve got a small family farm, my wife and I don’t mind another little one running around. Well, older one. She beats Coop by barely two years.”

“Thank you. I don’t know if I can do it at all but I don’t think I should leave her. She needs at least one of her real parents.” 

“Commendable, Cap. You ever need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Let’s hope I don’t mess the kid up.”

“Anything away from the Red Room is already an improvement for her.” 

Tony pressed the button on the light green aids to turn them on. 

“How’s that… too loud?” He said as Sarah clutched the left ear. 

Tony readjusted it to account for the fact that the left side wasn’t as bad as the right.

“How 'bout now kid?”

Sarah blinked rapidly and looked around. 

“Should I be able to hear them outside the lab?”

“You can hear them?!”

Tony apologized when he saw how quickly Sarah hung her head after he yelled. He had to reassure her that she wasn't in trouble and he wasn’t yelling out of anger at her but surprise. Tony left Sarah in the lab and walked out with a set of hearing aids. He shoved them into Clint’s hand and the man automatically began exchanging his for the new ones.

“Sarah? Start talking,” Tony said at a normal level. “Clint, can you hear her?”

“No, why?”

“Turn it all the way up, now?”

“Still nothing.”

“Steve can you hear her?”

“Yeah no problem. Why?”

“Cause once I put the hearing aids on she could hear you two. Your ailments from before are like a layer on top of the serum but once peeled back she’s just like you… better watch what you say when the kid has them in.” 

“Thank you, Tony. Both of you. Sarah, let’s go,” he called into the lab.

The three men watched the child hop down from the table and enter the hallway, the too large shoes that had been given to her by a random agent flopping about. Tony and Clint stayed back and looked on as Steve gently placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder to guide her with him out of the building. It was the weirdest picture but if anyone could pull it off, they thought it might be Steve.

* * *

“It’s not much, but I wasn’t expecting a second person exactly,” Steve said as he opened the door to his D.C. apartment.

The two had landed from New York when it got dark outside.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled an apology.

“Nothing to be sorry for Sarah. You stay right here, get comfortable. My house is our house now.” 

Steve left to knock on his neighbor’s door, hoping the blonde woman would be there and not already starting the night shift of her hospital job. A few knocks later and she opened the door. 

“Hi, Steve.”

“Hello Kate, um, this is going to be weird but I have a kid and her mom’s passed so she’s living with me now but I don’t have anything for a little girl. Would it be at all possible— just for tonight and maybe tomorrow morning— then we’ll go shopping,” Steve stumbled over his words. 

“How old?”

“She’s twelve.”

“Hmm, let me check real quick. I’m bound to have some smaller items.” 

His neighbor came back with more than enough for the night and next morning. She handed them to Steve with a warm smile.

“Thank you so much.”

Steve returned to find that Sarah hadn’t moved from where he had left her. Still frozen in place, hands behind back.

“You don’t have to wait for me to say anything. This really is your place too now, Sarah. Here, the bathroom is the middle door. You hungry?”

Sarah nodded and took the pile of clothes to the guest bathroom. Steve started scrambling around to find something to make. He realized that even though it was late, most pizza places were still open so he placed an order for a simple large cheese pizza— half with pepperoni. Steve wasn’t sure if HYDRA had ever given Sarah a pizza so this seemed like a treat? He liked pizza when he was twelve, still did now. The smell alone of food could’ve lured Sarah out of the bathroom. She was wearing his neighbor’s small zip up hoodie and old leggings. Steve sat down on the couch and opened the big box, beckoning her over to sit down and eat. 

“Sarah? You’re not at HYDRA anymore, I won’t hurt you or let others hurt you. You don’t have to be afraid alright?”

“Alright.”

“You’re lying,” he chuckled when she looked up. “I used to lick my top lip too, right before a lie.”

“I’m so—”

“And we don’t have to apologize for something that’s not that big a deal or we didn’t do wrong. Listen, I have no clue what I’m doing and I’m sure your mother would’ve been a thousands times better but you’re mine and I’m gonna take care of you alright.”

“Alright.”

Steve sat back, knowing she told the truth. “I have shampoo and conditioner to wash your hair, get those tangles out.”

Sarah looked down at the pizza slice. “I already tried.” 

Steve looked at her hair. It wasn’t just matted, it wasn’t completely curly. He could see straight ends and bits that didn’t look as shiny as the others. Steve didn’t know anything about her type hair but he was sure that it shouldn’t look like that. Sarah knew it too. ASL was the only thing about her that HYDRA accommodated to— but even then she was mainly yelled at and forced to read lips. But her hair, not taken care of. Her skin and nutrition, not taken care of like it should’ve been. And they never gave her hearing aids, just forced her to strain her left ear in attempts to hear them. 

“I want to get rid of it,” Sarah said after a moment. “All of it.” 

“Okay, I have clippers in my bathroom. Do you want to do it now?”

She nodded and set down the pizza. Steve walked into his bathroom and Sarah followed closely behind. He searched his lower cabinet for the clippers. Making sure the guard was on, he plugged them in. Steve moved Sarah to stand in front of him and he very carefully glided the clippers through her hair. Sarah watched herself in the mirror as the damaged curls hit the bathroom floor. 

Steve looked at her through the mirror and then focused back on the hair. He was so unsure how he found himself in this situation, well he knew how but it was still overwhelming. Taking care of a kid was something he had never done before. He was an only child and sure he babysitted Bucky’s younger sister before but that was with Bucky. And Sarah wasn't his younger sister but his actual kid. Sarah ran a hand over her newly shaven head. It was a close cut but not completely squeaky clean bald. It felt weird but also like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. Like she could start over with… she didn’t know what to call Steve. He didn’t say. 

“What do I call you?”

“Um, I haven’t really thought about that. Whatever you want.” 

Steve waited for a suggestion from her but Sarah said nothing. He patted her shoulder and moved to get a broom to sweep up the hair on the floor. Sarah stared at herself while he was gone. Maybe it was because of how she looked but Sarah still didn’t expect Steve to be her dad. She knew how genetics worked, of course it was more likely that she looked like her mother than her father but she couldn’t see a single bit of physical resemblance to Steve. Well there was one but right now it wasn’t too noticeable. Captain America’s genes were very strong, which was kind of the point. The one physical thing was the lighter hair. Constantly dyed a dark brown almost black, her hair was actually honey blonde like Steve’s. 

“You can take the bed,” Steve said as he swept the floor. “The guest bedroom has nothing in it right now. Goodnight, Sarah.”

“Night.”


	2. Chapter 2

Steve didn’t realize how small his couch was until he had to sleep on it. He tossed and turned until he found a semi-decent sleeping position. It felt weird when he woke up, not at 6 a.m. since S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him a week off for the new adjustment with Sarah and he thought it’d be best to forgo his usual routine until they both had adjusted. So instead of going for a morning run, Steve got up and quietly slipped into his bathroom to get ready. As he stepped out of the bathroom, Sarah rose to life. Steve waited for her to stretch and put her hearing aids back in before speaking. 

“We’ll get breakfast and then go shopping.”

“Okay.” 

He left so she could get ready. Sarah stepped out in a different zip up hoodie and the same leggings. The only shoes she had were the ones that the random agent gave her, still too big no matter how tightly the laces were pulled. Steve noticed the change in hair color after Sarah came out of the shower, having shampooed and conditioned more times than probably healthy for her hair, but he didn’t say anything. When the two of them reached the street, Steve realized he had already messed up and the day hadn’t even begun. 

They had taken a taxi home from the airport because he had been taken to the airport by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to fight the Battle of New York. Now this morning, looking at the street he saw his mode of transportation. A motorcycle. That didn’t even have a sidecar or helmet. He didn’t need Clint to tell him this was absolutely not safe for a child. He opened his phone to call Natasha. 

“I don’t have a car.”

“Can you drive one?”

“I… no.”

“I’ll tell Nick I can’t come in today.” 

Sarah and Steve looked comical as they both sat on the curb waiting for Nat. He was already trying to think about how he was going to rearrange his schedule. He had to find some time to learn to drive, and then get the license… and learn sign language from Clint, and take care of Sarah, and find a babysitter when he went on missions, and… Steve shook his head. The list was getting longer and longer and he was starting to question if twenty-four hours was enough in a single day to do even half of the list. He also had the growing realization that he now had to catch up to the twenty-first century quicker than he had planned. 

Nat finally showed up and Steve opened the backdoor for Sarah to climb in. The three of them stopped at a cafe for breakfast. They watched Sarah take small bites and not talk as everyone ate. 

“You changed your hair,” Nat commented. “It’s pretty.”

“Thank you.”

“Did you do it this morning?”

“Unh-unh. Last night. Ste— Da— He did it.” 

Sarah pointed her fork at Steve. They both saw how she tried to figure out what to call him but none of the words seemed to fit right in Sarah's mouth. And Steve was no help because he didn’t know himself what sounded right. So for now they both seemed to accept the vague word of ‘he’. 

“Good work, Rogers,” Nat said. 

Breakfast was finished and the first place it was agreed that they would stop was the clothing store. Sarah got fitted for a couple pairs of shoes and clothes. Nat and Steve let the store clerk lead Sarah around and find things that she liked. They hung a ways back so they could talk. 

“It’s blonde.”

“Yeah, definitely mine then.”

“You ready for this?”

“Not at all.” 

“Everyone would understand if—”

“Nat. She’s my kid. I’m not adding onto her problems by giving her away.” 

“Alright. You know they’re going to train her right?”

“What?”

“Steve, this isn’t a normal child. If Nick just wanted to tell you she was yours, you might never have actually known. She’s a mini super-soldier and trained by HYDRA. The agency isn’t going to let it go.”

“They can train her all they want, she doesn’t fight.”

“Steve…”

“No. That’s a child. Normal or not. She doesn’t fight.”

“Okay, Captain. But when the time comes, I don’t know if you’ll have much of a choice… oh that jacket looks nice.” Nat’s voice changed so quickly as Sarah approached them. 

The girl frowned and looked at Steve, pointing to the flowers on the jean jacket. “I can’t tell—”

“Light purple.” 

Steve quickly answered, sensing how she was growing frustrated. He used to be like that when he came across certain shades that made it damn near impossible to try and guess. He relied on Bucky usually to subtly tell him which color he was looking at and would always just say dark or light because using the specific color name meant nothing to Steve. 

“I want blue but light like this.” 

Steve nodded and walked with Sarah to where she had found the jackets. He sorted through until he found the pale turquoise flowers decorating one. The young girl nodded and shrugged out of the other jean jacket to put it back on the rack. The bags were reasonable, they only bought enough. It was two loads of laundry at the absolute most. 

The furniture was even quicker than clothes. Sarah lived a simple life but Steve wasn’t sure if that was her actual personality or if it was because that’s how HYDRA forced her to live. It was just a bed— mattress ordered for delivery— a dresser and bookshelf. Steve had to convince her to buy a singular nightstand and lamp. 

“Do you guys have dinner?” Nat asked as the car pulled up in front of the apartment building. 

“We still have some leftover pizza.”

“I hope you’re not going to feed the kid pizza every night.”

“We’ll go grocery shopping after we put up the stuff. The store’s a five minute walk… oh, be careful Sarah, or not.”

Both Steve and Nat looked in surprise as the girl lifted the two large boxes that held the pieces that made up her dresser and bookshelf. It shifted a little and Steve grabbed the bigger of the two boxes from her, handing Sarah the smaller nightstand instead. She wasn't as strong as him having only half of his serum-jacked genes but she was clearly stronger than the average twelve year old. 

“We’ll be fine Nat, thank you. I’ll see you next week.” 

“Thank you, Ms. Natasha,” Sarah said before walking up the stairs to enter the building. 

Steve gave a final wave to his friend before rushing to follow his daughter. The mattress arrived just as the two came from the grocery store. Sarah put up the groceries while Steve started to set up the furniture. It had been a day and even though the kitchen was now fully stocked, both Sarah and Steve agreed on finishing the leftover pizza. 

“Your mother, Elise. What was she like?” Steve asked, tentatively. He didn’t want to upset her like yesterday. 

Sarah looked at the pizza and then Steve, before sighing in resolve. There wasn’t much she could remember about her now. Her face was even starting to become fuzzy. She was Sarah's teacher and only friendly face. Big hair, she had big hair. 

“She was nice.”

The DMV lady was also nice. She let Sarah sit in her office while Steve was learning to drive. He had a week. He really had all the time in the world but Steve felt he needed to learn as quickly as possible and was determined to do it before going back to work. So Nat dropped the two off at the DMV and the nice lady let Sarah sit in her office. She was watching TV in the break room, intrigued since Sarah had never been allowed to watch TV before. 

“You’re doing good, Captain Rogers.” 

Steve almost laughed, even the DMV people used his title. 

“Not quite a motorcycle.” 

The lesson continued for another hour, Steve picking up everything quickly— minus his slightly too wide turns. He thanked the instructor and they both exited the car and stepped back into the building. The office lady directed Steve towards the break room where Sarah still was. He heard the workers whispering to themselves as he walked by, people tended to forget he had super hearing not just strength. 

Most of it was about Sarah, trying to figure out who’s kid it was because no one believed it was Steve’s. The most funny but incorrect one was that she was related to Happy Sam Sawyer— one of his former Howling Commandos and the only black one— and had no family left or maybe was just visiting and that’s why Sarah was there. 

“Sarah, we’re all done.”

The girl looked over her shoulder to see Steve in the doorway. She jumped up from the couch and followed him out the building to the bus stop. Nat couldn’t pick them up since she actually had work. Steve and Sarah got off two stops early to the younger Rogers' confusion. 

“Your apartment isn’t on this street.” 

“Your file said your mom taught you a lot. I figured you’d want some books.”

Even after watching her eyes light up in the store, Steve noticed the two of them walked out with only three books. One fiction, two not. He came to the conclusion that the simple life wasn’t Sarah's style but the only way HYDRA had allowed her to live. She sat at the table while Steve cooked dinner. He was pretty sure snacks weren’t supposed to be before dinner but he gave her one of those weird popsicles in a plastic tube. She munched on it while reading a textbook. 

“Anything interesting?” Steve asked, in attempts to make some form of conversation. 

Sarah looked up at him, mouth stained purple.

“The Romans used to make dodecahedrons out of bronze mainly. And Tomoko Fuse made an icosidodecahedron out of a single sheet of colored paper which seems impossible.”

“Icosidode… what?”

“Icosidodecahedron. A polyhedron with thirty-two faces, not all the same shape. Polyhedrons are 3-D objects made of polygons since polygons are only two dimensional and the icosidodecahedron uses triangles and pentagons as its poly— I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to sound precocious, you just asked me to explain and, and…” 

Steve set the spoon down and rushed over to where she was crying. What did HYDRA do to her? 

“Woah, woah, woah, Sarah. Calm down. Calm down please.” Steve placed a hand on her knee. “Hey, hey, come on, doll don’t cry please. You’re not being precocious. You like this stuff and I asked you to explain.”

“They didn’t like it when I sounded too smart.”

“Well we’re not with them anymore are we? You’re smarter than me kid, that’s cool, okay. Whenever you want to share some smart thing with me, don’t hesitate. So icosidodecahelion?”

“Hedron,” Sarah whispered.

“Hmm?” 

“Icosidodecahedron.”

“Same difference, right?” 

Steve smiled when Sarah made a face as if he was dumb. That was the reaction he was looking for, something other than crying. He wiped at her tears and returned to the stove, asking her to finish the explanation from before the tears had started. 

“Can we make one?” she asked as Steve set down the plate of pasta. 

“Um, sure. What do we need?”

“I want to make it out of straws and ribbon.” 

“Okay. We’ll get it tomorrow? After my lesson?” 

Sarah nodded and began to eat dinner. After she bid him a goodnight, Steve climbed into his bed thankful to not use the couch again. He groaned and rubbed his eyes wondering what he just agreed to make. He wasn’t sure if he was even going to remember the name by tomorrow afternoon. More importantly he was worried about Sarah hitting a breaking point. This was the second time in only three days something he’s done had made her cry. He was unsure about what caused a negative reaction and reminded her of HYDRA. Steve sat up again and grabbed his laptop and opened it up. 

“Hi, Clint.”

“We’re learning emotions today, Cap. Do you remember the alphabet?”


	3. Chapter 3

While Steve was so close to getting his license, a week was not enough despite how hard he tried. So Nat picked both him and Sarah up and the three of them headed to S.H.I.E.L.D. Sarah's backpack was filled with supplies and a change of clothes. Steve tried to put his foot down but like Nat predicted, they wanted her in training. However, they could only manage to squeeze out two hours in the gym. Steve threatened to snap someone’s neck if they did more or even thought about taking her to the shooting range. He also had the second condition that they moved his training schedule up earlier so he could be in the gym at the same time Sarah was. 

“Okay, Miss Rogers, we’ll start you off light today. Just tests to find your baseline.” 

Steve watched from the corner of his eye while he did his own training. The trainer sent Sarah to wash up in the locker rooms and walked over to where he was running on the treadmill— his attempt to makeup for his lack of morning run. 

“Captain. Miss Rogers’ test yielded interesting results.”

“Interesting?”

“Every single one of her scores is exactly one-fourth of yours.”

“What does that mean for Sarah?” 

“Whether she gets better or not, Miss Rogers for a girl her age is peak human, dare I say super like you.” 

Steve finished his run and left to go change in the locker rooms. Sarah waited outside so he tried to be as quick as possible. The trainer’s words weighed heavy on him. There was something unspoken but he knew it. He knew it when Nat had said it. Sarah was more than likely going to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Steve led her to his office. 

Desk work, not something he liked but for this week he was grateful. He still had to figure out school for Sarah which, based on their talks sometimes, might be tutoring. In this moment he wished he knew Elise, had some insight into how smart she was really was. Bruce Banner, IQ 180. Tony Stark, 189. Her mother, Elise, IQ 193. Steve Rogers wasn’t stupid by any means but he was also not close to 180. 

And then after figuring out school, he was going to need to figure out a babysitter for when he went on missions. He had considered asking his neighbor but then the nurse would start to ask questions about his job. And what if he found himself gone for weeks instead of a simple few days? Steve was stressed. He honestly would rather be back on the day Peggy walked in on that one woman making out with him. Dodging bullets from Peggy Carter seemed a lot less stressful than thinking of a babysitter for his genius child. 

Nat and another agent walked into his office with a mission report. They stopped in the doorway when they noticed Sarah on the floor with red, white, and blue ribbons as well as clear plastic straws. They also heard the audiobook about space, that Steve had tuned out by this point, playing loudly from his computer. Steve looked up and stepped out of the office, closing the door. 

“She’s making an icosidodecahedron… I know, just go with it. She thought it was pretty. Is that from the Mexico mission?”

“No, the Candian border. Mexico is actually still there, said they need a few more days.” 

“We’re pulling them out if it takes over three days. I rather lose our lead than some agents.” 

He looked behind him as he heard the door open. When Sarah saw him and the other two still there, she immediately apologized and slammed the door shut. Steve held up a finger to Nat and the other agent before opening the door and beckoning her over. Steve bent down when she didn’t speak right away, putting himself below Sarah to make her feel safer. He just had a feeling that one wrong thing was going to start the water works again. 

“What made you feel like you had to close the door?”

“I wanted to ask but you were talking. I didn’t mean to…” 

“Hey, what did I say last week?”

“We’re not with HYDRA anymore.”

“So what do you want, Sarah?” 

“I got hungry.”

Steve had to stop himself from laughing. He stood up and pointed Sarah down the hall. 

“You see the elevator? Press the button labelled ‘LL’, cafeteria’s on the right.”

The three adults watched her walk down the hall and get into the elevator. Nat was going to say something and then decided against it. The way Sarah and Steve reacted to each other on pins and needles, she didn’t want one of her side comments— even a compliment— to make Steve doubt that he could parent. So she went back to discussing the mission report. 

“And the kid’s going to need to be watched. They’re requesting you on this upcoming one, four days. You leave this weekend.” 

“Can you?”

“I’ll be in Moscow.”

“Okay, I’ll figure it out.” 

When Sarah came back, she said nothing as she set the two cans of soda and salads on Steve’s desk before sitting down at the single chair on the other side of the desk. Since she said nothing, he didn’t mention it either. He also didn’t mention that he actually wasn’t hungry and popped open the tab on the soda can anyway. 

* * *

“Hey kiddo!” Clint greeted Sarah happily at the airport despite the ungodly early hour that it was. 

“Thank you again, Clint,” Steve said as he placed the small suitcase in her hand. 

“No problem, I said any time.”

“I’ll see you in four days, Sarah.”

“Okay Ste— Da— Bye.” 

“Bye.” 

Clint watched the girl sigh as Steve walked away. She immediately took out the hearing aids and tucked them in her hoodie pocket. He understood and so he just scooped up her suitcase and led her through security, letting the girl sit in the silence that she wanted now that Steve was gone. When the plane landed, Clint drove for what felt like eternity to Sarah. 

As he left the airport area and it got more rural Sarah seemed to perk up. Clint watched her stare in amazement out the window. She rolled it down and slipped in the aids to hear the nature sounds around her. Clint’s heart almost broke when he realized she had never seen any of this in real life. Sarah was kept at a HYDRA facility and it’s not like D.C. was full of farms. 

“Laura! Our little situation’s here,” Clint called as they entered the house. 

Right away, his wife came from downstairs to greet them. Clint’s two children were there shortly after. Sarah was shown the guest room and told to wash up for breakfast. As breakfast was coming to an end, Clint tried to bring the girl into the conversation since she had silently listened to the family talk. 

“Steve said you’re making an icosi— icosi— what is it?”

“[Icosidodecahedron](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fpolyhedra.mathmos.net%2Fentry%2Ficosidodecahedron.html&t=ZjdiNTM5YWFiZjRmNTFhYjAwZjFkNzBhNDYxZWYyNzNhNWFjMDg3YywzaWZaeGxYbA%3D%3D&b=t%3AXrP9ILtxlEOHEo0CUGQqyQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fjimblejamblewriting.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F625042642295734272%2Flittle-situation-part-3&m=1&ts=1596948614).”

“Yeah, that.”

“That sounds fun,” Laura offered, not really knowing what she was talking about. 

“We’re making it out of straws and ribbon.”

“Did you bring any of it with you? Maybe Coop and Lila want to help?”

The kids agreed and Sarah smiled as the three of them jumped up and headed to the guest rooms for the ribbon and straws. Clint and Laura exchanged looks when the children walked away. Was this the first time Sarah interacted with children close to her age? Lila and Cooper helped Sarah make the triangles and pentagons until Cooper got bored and suggested they play outside. Cooper set up the bases while Lila dug through the garage for what they were looking for. Sarah stood there, not knowing how to help. Lila taught her the very basic rules of how to play baseball. Sarah wasn't sure if she was supposed to always catch or let them win so she did half and half. Sometimes catching the ball after Cooper hit it and sometimes letting it go. 

“Alright, Sarah. Your turn to pitch. I’ll bat and then when you bat, Lila will pitch.” 

“I just throw it at the bat?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” 

It seemed simple enough. Sarah went to mimic Cooper’s stance when he was pitching to Lila. She geared up and threw the ball. The loud crack rang out as the ball she threw completely shattered the wooden bat as it made contact, the splinters barely missing the boy. Sarah dropped the baseball glove and started apologizing while backing away. 

“Clint’s going to kill me. He’s going to be so mad” she thought before turning on her heels and running, ignoring the shouts of Lila and Cooper. 

All she could think about was how mad everyone would be. And the panic only got worse when Sarah heard Clint and Laura calling for her. So the girl kept running until she reached the lake edge. Sitting down, she took out the hearing aids and prayed that she wouldn’t be found. 

Clint began pacing the house and even Laura couldn’t get him to sit down. 

“I had one job, watch Steve’s kid. I told him that we could’ve taken her if he wasn’t ready and I lost the kid.” 

“Clint, we’ll find her.” 

“It’s getting dark. I’m going back out.” 

Clint grabbed his phone and a flashlight. There was no way Sarah would run off of the property, right? He headed to the edge and spotted Sarah, dangerously close to the lake edge. He called out her name and she barely turned to the left. Clint sat down next to her and waited patiently until she put the hearing aids back in. He could talk to her and focus mainly on the left ear but he knew that it would be easier for her if Sarah could read his lips and it was too dark for that. 

“Gave us quite a scare, kiddo.” 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break it, I swear I wasn’t tr— please don’t tell my dad.”

“Sarah, relax. It was an accident. But you can’t run off like that, okay? That made us very worried. And I’ve got to tell Steve, but he won’t be mad either.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. We have dinner being made if you’re hungry.” 

* * *

Steve slumped back to the crusty motel room after the second day of stakeout. He was tempted to not even shower as he flopped on the bed when his eyes flashed open. Sarah. He hadn’t called her and it was already the second day. Steve still had to remember there was someone else he was responsible for now. He sat up and wiped his face before grabbing his phone. 

“Hi, Sarah, did I wake you up?” 

He hadn’t accounted for the time difference. She nodded and yawned, grabbing one hearing aid and sticking it in. 

“Sorry, I can let you go back to sleep.”

“It’s okay.”

“You don’t sound okay.”

“I broke a baseball bat yesterday,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“I broke a baseball bat.” Sarah decided she wanted to tell Steve before Clint did because she didn’t believe that he wouldn’t be mad. 

“What happened?”

“We were playing baseball and they told me to throw and it hit the bat.”

“And the bat just shattered?”

Sarah nodded. Steve watched her hand snake up to the hearing aid, ready to turn it off so the yelling would be harder to hear. He quickly spoke before she did anything. 

“Accidents happen. I accidentally broke the window of a wedding shop running down the street.”

Sarah's hand fell to her side and she looked at him in surprise. 

“Yeah. It happens. We’ll buy Clint a new bat. Are you having fun?”

Sarah nodded and proceeded to talk his ear off about the outside drive on the way to the farm. Steve’s eyes were getting heavy but he kept them open. She seemed to get very excited and come out of her shell when explaining things to him before immediately shutting down again. He caught her yawn and used this time to cut them both off. 

“Someone’s tired. Okay, Sarah, I’ll let you get back to sleep. See you in two days, alright?”

“Alright, bye.”


	4. Chapter 4

Steve waved as Sarah and Clint came from baggage claim. Clint laughed as he saw the baseball bat in the hand Steve was waving. Once the two actually reached, he took the bat and smiled at Sarah trying to show that everything was fine after all. Steve also pulled something else from behind his back. 

“Our mission was in Peru. I, um, got you something,” Steve said as he handed her a chullo hat with a toy alpaca in it. 

“Thanks Da— Ste— thank you.” 

Sarah tucked the alpaca under her arm and put on the hat— it was very colorful but obvious the reason Steve bought that particular one was for the large white star on each ear flap. Steve took the suitcase from Sarah and patted her shoulder. 

“Nat’s right outside with the car. Why don’t you head on out, Clint and I are right behind you.” 

He watched her walk out the airport doors before turning back to Clint. The pompom on the top of the hat bobbled back and forth as Sarah walked away.

“When we say she broke a bat, how bad?”

“It was in literal splinters, I don’t think she knows how much strength to put in certain tasks.”

“I’ll work on that with her. Hope that’s a good one for your kid.”

“Yep. Same brand, you didn’t have to buy a new bat.”

“Ah, no problem.”

Steve started to walk when Clint grabbed his arm. 

“Hey, man. Sarah ran after it broke thinking something bad was going to happen to her. She was gone for almost the whole night and was so worried about us being mad.”

“I’m working on that too. I don’t know what the hell HYDRA did to her but we’re trying to undo that.”

“She called you dad.” Clint nodded when Steve looked at him with surprise. “When I found her she said ‘please don’t tell my dad’. The kid feels safe with you whether she says so or not, just be careful with that.”

Steve got in the backseat and let Clint take the passenger’s. It was silent until Nat finally reached over to turn on the radio. Steve turned his head to see Sarah staring out the window, absentmindedly picking at the soft fur of the alpaca doll. Clint and Nat both looked in the rearview mirror to see her take out the hearing aids and place her hand on the speaker on the backdoor of the car. Sarah closed her eyes and sat back with a smile. When the song changed, Sarah's eyes opened with a frown. Clint messed with the stations until he found one with a similar vibe. When her eyes closed again, he turned to Nat and Steve. 

“Sometimes it’s not about the song itself but the music. She probably likes the way the vibrations feel.” 

“Have you guys eaten lunch?” 

“Nah, had to leave early to make the flight on time.” 

So Nat pulled up at an outdoor restaurant instead of just taking Clint to his studio and Sarah and Steve to the apartment. Sarah took off the hat and left the alpaca in the car. The waitress came over and the three adults watched Sarah tilt her head as she approached, looking at something. The waitress pulled out her phone for them all to read: **Hello, I’m Ally, your server for today. Please bear with me, I am completely deaf but can still do my job. I’m happy to help. Do you know what you want to drink?**

Ally’s smile grew large when Sarah and Clint both tapped on their ears. Clint took over taking everyone’s orders and signing them to the waitress. When she came back with the sodas, she handed Sarah a kid’s menu with crayons. 

_I like your hearing aids, pretty color. Is green your favorite?_ Ally asked. 

_Thank you. Yes, I like green._

Ally took their food order and headed back to wait her other tables. The three Avengers discussed the missions Nat and Steve had just come back from, being careful not to discuss classified information in case someone was eavesdropping. Steve, who was sitting across from Sarah, looked down to see her drawing— surprisingly well, especially for having crayons. Nat and Clint looked as well. 

“You know they say a portion of creative ability can actually be an inherited trait,” Nat said. 

Both Clint and Steve looked at her. 

“What? I had to be a child psychologist for a mission once.” 

Sarah looked up when Steve took a crayon. 

“Can I?”

She shrugged and pushed the menu in between the two of them, where she had flipped it to the blank back side to reveal the drawing of the roses in the pots next to their table. Natasha and Clint looked on with silent amusement as Steve leaned over the table and started coloring with Sarah while waiting for the sandwiches. He added the actual restaurant in the background, including the green awning while she made the tables and chairs. Sarah looked at the flowers on the table— not red roses, but purple flowers. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, except the crayon pack had all the blues and purples next to each other. Steve took the crayon pack out of Sarah's hand and wordlessly took all the crayons out, rearranging them on the table so each blue or purple was separated by another color. 

Sarah picked up the crayon that seemed closest, now able to have a sense of differentiation. When Ally came back with the sandwiches and fries, they quickly cleared the table of their stuff to make room. The other three didn’t miss how Sarah looked at the drawing one more time before taking up a crayon and writing down: Steve & Sarah’s Restaurant. Sarah quickly folded up the paper and started to eat. 

“Sarah?” Nat asked. “Do you have anything you like to do? For fun, like drawing?”

“They made us dance… but I liked it.” 

Natasha froze and neither Clint nor Steve was sure if they had ever seen her that way. It had been years since she touched a dance floor. Any missions that involved disguising herself as a dancer was immediately passed to a different agent, Nick knew not to even ask. 

“You liked it?”

“It was when they left us alone.” 

That made Nat laugh in agreeance. It might’ve been painful and torture but once the music started Sarah was right, they left them alone. 

“I like…” 

Sarah trailed off when she spotted the large dog. When her eyes returned to the table, she had forgotten what she was going to say and finished eating. Nat dropped Sarah and Steve back home after dropping off Clint. Sarah set the alpaca toy on the bed and gave the hat a front row seat on an empty part of her bookshelf. 

“Sarah?” 

The girl popped her head out of the room. 

“Nick found you a tutor if you want one? It seems better than school for now.” 

Steve thought that Sarah should be privately tutored until she was further detached from HYDRA. He didn’t want one wrong move from a teacher or another student to cause her to run off or shut down. 

“Okay.” 

“You said you finished the polygons at the farm. Do you want help putting them together?”

Sarah nodded excitedly and brought out all the triangles and pentagons. Steve grabbed two of the popsicle tubes and handed her one. They both sat cross-legged on the couch, facing each other, popsicle tubes dangling from their teeth. Sarah showed him the template and started connecting the shapes with ribbons. He held up the finished product. 

“First icosidodecahedron finished in all blue. Nice work, Babydoll.” 

“My mom used to call me that.”

“Oh, I don’t have to—” 

“I like it.” 

Sarah woke up early from the noise, having forgotten to take out the aids. She got up and opened her room door to see Steve, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. He turned around as he heard the door open. 

“Good morning, Sarah, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was going to go on a morning run and then come right back.” 

“Can I come with you?” 

“Sure.”

Steve slowed himself down but was impressed by the stamina and speed Sarah kept. The two of them ran for ten miles in the half hour before she got tired, instead of his normal thirteen. The two quickly ate breakfast and made their way downstairs again to where Nat was waiting. 

“Scheduled the test for Monday. We’ll be out of your hair soon and in our own car.”

“If you pass, Rogers. I’ll hold my breath. How are you, Sarah?”

“I’m good. We finished the icosidodecahedrons yesterday, would you like one?”

“Is there one with red ribbon?”

“That’s Dad’s.”

“Da—”

“We can give Nat the red one, Babydoll,” Steve cut off Nat’s question. “I’ll take the blue one.”

Steve took Sarah to Nick’s office after training, where the tutor was, before leaving for his own office to type up the mission report. The office was now oddly quiet, he had gotten used to the audiobooks playing in the background. The mission report was boring but Steve meticulously typed it up anyway. Nat came strolling in a few hours later, sitting on the corner of the desk. 

“When did that progression occur?”

“In the car.” 

“Right then? That was the first time she called you ‘dad’? And the nickname?”

“Is it too old school sounding? She said her mother used to call her that.”

“No, it’s cute, I just didn’t expect it so soon. You two are a nice family.”

“The kid’s growing on me… speak of the devil.”

Sarah walked into the office carrying two containers of lunch and two water bottles balancing on top of them. She gave a wave to Nat and set the food on the desk, taking up the single chair on the other side once again. 

“The tutor gave me an hour for lunch.”

“Thank you, Babydoll.” He took the second container. 

“There’s a lot of agents here. Not a lot of guards,” Sarah said. It was just a simple observation. 

“We don’t need guards, everyone’s a good guy here,” Nat said. 

“I like that,” Sarah said after a moment of silence. 

Nat left Sarah and Steve to go do her own work which included research on a cartel. Steve opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out his sketchbook and colored pencils that he kept there. He slid them across the desk and towards the girl. She opened it, seeing a few of his drawings. 

“I like to draw too, figured you would get more use out of it than me.” 

Sarah and Steve got used to the new routine. Early morning runs before finishing training at S.H.I.E.L.D. Then they would part ways for Sarah's tutoring while he worked before they grabbed lunch and ate in his office. Tutoring would finish and they'd both go home, ready for dinner. The times he had a mission, Sarah would hop on a flight to Clint’s farm. And Steve would always bring back something from a mission for her. It had been going like that for three months. 

Sarah was sitting at the round dining room table after having taken a shower, drawing in the sketchpad. Steve was still working on dinner when she came back— he was slowly making his way through a cookbook, now on the recipe for lasagna from scratch. It definitely wasn’t going to look pretty, most of the things he cooked didn’t, but it would taste good. 

“Hey, Sarah… Babydoll.” 

Steve looked over when she hadn’t responded. Her head remained down, glued to the picture she had been working on. He noticed the green hearing aids weren’t in— Sarah had left them on the bathroom counter. Steve put the lasagna in the oven and walked over to the table. He moved his hand into her line of sight and knocked on the table. Sarah looked up, focusing on his mouth to see what he wanted. 

_Your hair is longer. Do you want to cut it again?_

He laughed when his daughter went wide-eyed. Steve didn’t want Sarah to feel like she had to have the hearing aids in all the time, and wanted to communicate on the off chance that something happened and she just didn’t have them on her. 

_I’m learning._ He gave a soft smile.

 _I want to grow it out_ , Sarah signed back to him. 

_Alright. Who’s this?_

Steve looked at the drawing, seeing the young black woman on the page. She had big hair and full lips that, in their stretched smile, took up almost the entire bottom part of her face. 

_My mother._

_Elise? She’s very pretty._

And young is what Steve thought. Obviously Sarah's mother had started graduate school way earlier than most people but it hadn’t really occurred to Steve until he saw the drawing. He was too busy staring at the picture that he almost missed Sarah's last words that came out so quiet. 

“I’m starting to forget what she looks like.”

Steve looked down at her. _Do you know her last name?_

_Lanns._

Steve nodded and returned to the kitchen to check on the lasagna. He now had two new things on his mind. One, finding videos on doing hair since Sarah wanted to grow it out. Two, finding any living relatives of Elise Lanns.


	5. Chapter 5

**A series of events involving Sarah and Steve leading up to Winter Soldier:**

“Sarah, come on we’re about to go,” Steve called towards the back of the store from where he was at the checkout counter. 

He had taken the Saturday off to take her to the mall— something he read was a good bonding activity. Sarah still was afraid of getting lots of things but Steve thought maybe he could at least see what caught her eye and maybe sneak them into the house slowly but surely. He kept the brim of his baseball cap low to avoid anyone that might recognize him, trying to only focus on his daughter for the day. As well as keep her identity hidden as best as he could. Who knows what would happen if enemies knew Cap had a kid. 

Before Sarah could go to him, a couple approached her. The man watched over his shoulder for Steve while the woman got a bit closer. 

“Are you okay, honey?”

“Yes?” 

Sarah took a step towards the rack and looked over to where Steve was paying, the woman following her line of sight. 

“Do you know that man? Don’t be afraid, you can trust us.”

“That’s my dad.”

“We can get you help, you don’t have to lie. He won’t hurt you anymore.”

“He’s my dad,” Sarah said with nervousness in her voice. She wanted the people to go away. 

Steve was over before Sarah could even blink. “Is there a problem here?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t let you leave with that child.” 

“With my child?”

“Your child? We can clearly see—”

“Yes. My child. Not that it matters but her mother is black.”

“May we see a picture?”

“You’re kidding…” Steve was attempting to keep his composure.

“We want to make sure you’re not kidnapping a child! If we don’t know she’s safe, she’s not leaving with you sir!”

Steve looked down when he heard Sarah's breathing get shallow. He immediately stopped his argument with the couple that had attracted more people concerned that a very large white man was seen with a child far from his skin complexion. He once again dropped to below Sarah and turned her to face him. Steve turned off the hearing aids to try and help her find calm in the silence. He was speaking while signing but more for the other patrons’ benefit than hers. 

_“Hey, Sarah. Sarah. Look at me. You’re fine, they were just concerned. You’re fine. I’m not leaving you, okay? Breathe in. Okay, now out. Again.”_

_They’re going to take you away. They take everyone away._

Steve was in panic mode now. Sarah wasn't in the same reality as everyone else, thinking this whole thing had been some cruel HYDRA set up. She was positive that in any minute guards would come drag her away and Steve would be killed in front of her or, even worse, be wearing a sick smile as he watched them haul her back to her cell. 

_“No, no. Sarah, no one’s taking me away. I’m right here. You won’t lose me. Sarah. I know they took your mom but we aren’t with those bad people. Right?… That means they won’t take me away either. Okay, so I’m right here.”_

Steve waited as she tried to calm down. 

“I hope her panic attack was proof enough she’s mine.”

“We’re sorry, but you have to understand why everyone was concerned. We just wanted to know, you two have a nice day.”

The customers scattered as if they were never there and went back to their shopping. Steve scoffed at the audacity they all had to act as if interrogating a child to tears was normal. He only thought about the problems from being a single dad and younger than he should be to take care of a twelve year old. He stupidly hadn’t accounted for the racial aspect and that was something he had to now take into consideration. This was Sarah's daily and he was finally witnessing it. Another thing he had to learn. After her breathing slowed down, Sarah reached up and turned the hearing aids back on.

“You promise, they won’t take you away?”

“Promise, Babydoll.”

Steve watched Sarah sigh like she didn’t believe him. Because she didn’t. Lots of caretakers had promised her they wouldn’t get taken away or leave. But the barrel of a guard’s gun can make people do anything. And leaving her behind was easily one of those things. 

* * *

Steve knocked frantically on his neighbor’s door. Nat hadn’t picked up the phone and he hoped the neighbor would answer. She finally did and Steve started rambling. 

“There’s blood and she’s cramping and—”

“She’s started her period. One second.”

Steve gladly showed the woman into the apartment where she helped Sarah while he threw the sheets and bloody underwear in the washing machine. He thanked her once again now that Sarah was out of the bathroom, still cramping but less so, and now on the couch. His face nearly paled when the blonde turned to him before leaving. 

“She might want to start using tampons at some poi—” 

“Bridge we’ll cross when we get there.” 

* * *

“Captain Rogers?” 

Steve looked up from his desk to see Sarah and her tutor at his office door. 

“Sarah forgot her hearing aids, again. We’ll just have to call this session off.”

“Thank you, anyway.” 

Sarah walked into his office and sat down at the chair. Steve waited for the tutor to leave before looking at her. 

_You left them at home again. On purpose._

_I don’t like her._

_What’s wrong with your tutor?_

_I don’t like her._

_Can you tell me what’s the problem?_

_I don’t like her._

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The old tutor got a permanent teaching job two weeks ago and they had found Sarah a new one. Only she's only had one lesson with this new teacher. He looked at Sarah again and saw her scratch at her left ear. Another tell. It had been five months since she had been living with Steve, he was slowly learning the girl's tells. Including scratching at her left ear when she felt like she wanted to tell him something but couldn’t get it out for whatever reason. Steve knocked on the desk so Sarah would look back at him. 

_Does your tutor make you uncomfortable?_

_Scared._

_Scared?_

_She looks like my nurse._

_We’ll find you a new one._

Steve didn’t need Sarah to say more. She only spoke in fragments about HYDRA and every time she did, it gave him a better picture of what happened. This wasn’t the first time she had mentioned a nurse. He took out a pen and jotted down a note on his memo pad to find her a new tutor. 

* * *

Sarah waited anxiously at her laptop for Steve’s face to appear. He was supposed to be gone for three days but now it was five and he hadn’t called yet. Sarah didn’t eat much dinner, even with Clint and Laura’s prodding or reassurance. Fiddling with the alpaca doll, she almost fell asleep when the call appeared. She accepted it immediately. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier, Sarah. We were in a zone where we couldn’t.”

“When do you come home?” 

“Three more days, maybe four.”

“Maybe four?” her voice rose two octaves.

Steve cringed. Sarah had separation issues, he learned that the last time a mission took longer than he had originally told her it would take. She was used to her handlers, tutors, guards, anyone she grew attached to being killed randomly. And when someone didn’t come back when they said they would, she started to assume the worst. The last time Sarah trusted her favorite watcher, he was suddenly gone and not a single guard would tell her what happened. She didn’t need to talk to Steve for long, just see his face and be reassured that he was coming back. 

“I’m in a place now where I can call you every night. Okay, Babydoll?”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Steve’s mission ended in two days so he booked a flight to Clint’s farm to surprise Sarah. He heard her laughing with Clint’s kids as he approached the door. Clint walked in first announcing a surprise that made her turn. Relief washed over her face when she saw Steve’s imposing figure in the doorway. Sarah ran over and hugged him to confirm he was actually there. 

_We have a surprise for you,_ she signed when she pulled away.

_For me?_

_Name sign. S-T-E-V-E. Steve._

Sarah showed him the name sign she and Clint came up with for him. The letter ‘S’ but then tapped it twice to the middle of the chest where the star on his uniform was located. Steve was touched, he kind of didn’t expect one. Especially since Sarah very comfortably just signed the word ‘dad’ when addressing him. He had learned hers which, now that he thought about it, was very similar to his. It was the letters ‘S’ and ‘E’ in quick succession near the middle of the chest. 

_Thank you, doll._

Whenever he was signing, Steve usually omitted the baby part of the Babydoll nickname— going only with the single sign for the word ‘doll’.

* * *

Why do they have the section labeled ‘Ethnic Hair’ behind glass doors? That was what Steve thought as the two finally found the hair care aisle of the general merchandise store. He waited for an employee to come by before finally giving up and going to search for one. He found a woman with shorter hair like Sarah's.

“I don’t know where to start,” he admitted.

The woman kindly placed her favorite products in the basket. 

“If those don’t work, try another line until you find what works for you. And while it might work for her shorter curls now, it could be the wrong product once the hair gets longer. Honestly most products you can probably finesse if you’re willing to try that hard.”

“Thank you so much.” 

“Oh and you’ll want those.” She pointed to the large row of bonnets and headscarves.

“Thank you again and um, is there a reason these are behind glass and not the Pantene stuff?”

“They think we steal,” the woman said with some spite while holding up a hand before pointing somewhere. 

Steve looked over to see Sarah, who had left the aisle to look at trinkets across the way. He saw what the woman was pointing to. There was a non-black employee watching her intently while acting as if they were folding the clothes in that section.

* * *

They never let Sarah watch Disney movies. Except for Snow White, played on repeat with subliminal messages. Steve caught that when he saw her having a Disney marathon on the living room TV he literally just bought. He wouldn’t say anything but if he had to hear _‘Friends on the Other Side’_ one more time or hear the neighbors’ dog bark when _‘Let It Go’_ played for the fifth time in a row, he would punch his head through a wall. Sarah finally switched to a new movie that hadn’t been played at all since the marathon started, _Brother Bear._ This was by far Steve’s favorite movie until they got to the song and Sarah rewinded it… four times.

* * *

Steve should’ve known that Nat knew about Clint’s farm sooner. But he didn’t put the pieces together until they both saw her in the kitchen with Laura prepping for Thanksgiving dinner. The four adults as they cooked— Steve in charge of pumpkin pie— listened to Sarah begin to lecture about Thanksgiving and the conflict in celebrating said holiday. 

“Steve, stop letting her watch university lectures.” 

Nat set down the mostly empty bowl that once held the brown sugar pie filling for Steve and Clint’s kids to eat the leftover. The children didn’t even bother getting spoons but just stuck their fingers in the remnants of the bowl and licked them clean. 

“Well you and I are in the clear,” Nat continued when Sarah looked at her confused. “I’m Russian, you’re half black. We didn’t participate.”

“Really?” Steve and Clint asked at the same time, making Sarah laugh. 

Steve grabbed the bowl before the kids could finish it, not wanting them to ruin their appetites. 

“Tell you what. We finish Thanksgiving dinner and talk about what we’re thankful for and then we find a bunch of Native American organizations to donate to. That sound good, kid?”

Steve watched her face and the next statement Sarah made had the four adults doubled over in laughter in the middle of the kitchen while she, Cooper, and Lila looked at each other in confusion. 

“Captain America celebrates Thanksgiving with reparations.”

The dinner looked like it was straight from a magazine or one of those cooking channel shows. The large dishes were passed around and everyone took a bit of each dish with the exception of the pies cooking on low in the oven. Everyone started to say what they were thankful for. 

“I’m thankful that we have a cool Aunty Nat,” Lila said. “Plus Sarah and Uncle Steve.” 

Sarah and Steve both looked in surprise. Laura grabbed both of their hands and offered a smile. The two of them didn’t realize that they had considered them family. It made them both feel warm inside— Steve more than Sarah because she still felt like this was some elaborate HYDRA scheme to break her once and for all. It was joyful until it wasn’t and Lila who was sitting across from Sarah was the first to notice when she tapped Clint on the arm and pointed to the other girl. Sarah had reached up and turned off her hearing aids and was now staring at her plate. 

“Steve.” Clint nodded his head towards Sarah. 

Steve didn’t even have to knock on the table because she looked up when she saw him push her plate away so he would have space to knock. She turned the aids back on and flopped her head onto his arm, refusing to move it once the tears started. After lots of prodding and cooing, she finally looked up at him and then looked out the window. Everyone’s eyes followed but they saw nothing. 

“Sarah? What’s the problem, Babydoll?” 

“They killed her today,” she whispered. “Right after we ate dinner… I don’t want them to kill you too.”

The adults exchanged looks as Steve rubbed circles on her back. Dinner ended pretty quickly after that and, for Sarah, dessert wasn’t much better. Laura brought out the duvet from Steve’s guest room and handed it to him as he and Sarah sat on the couch. 

“Thank you, Laura.”

“No problem, it’ll all be fine in the morning. Okay, Sarah? Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Aunt Laura.”

The woman smiled as she left. She had been hoping Sarah would warm up to them the same way Cooper and Lila warmed up to Steve. Everyone else was going to bed but Sarah and Steve. They were now sat on the couch because Sarah wouldn’t sleep until morning came and she could confirm that Steve was alive. He wasn’t going to sleep, even though she said he could, because he wasn’t going to let his kid stay up alone in dark thoughts. 

* * *

He looked like an idiot. All the agents in the office thought it was sweet how he was willing to make himself look like an idiot for Sarah. Because the scene in front of them was quite a sight. 

She had sent an email on Steve’s computer asking if anyone knew how to double dutch. Steve didn’t even know it until his inbox was flooded with actual responses. The agents gathered in the training room as agents Fraser and Cole began to spin the ropes. Sarah jumped with ease and then turned her eyes to Steve who was watching with the others. Sarah beckoned him over. 

“I don’t know how to double dutch, Babydoll.”

“It’s like _Jump In_.”

“ _Jump In_?”

“The Disney movie. We watched it last week, with Corbin Bleu and Keke Palmer.”

There were some snickers from other agents. It was funny to them that Steve was relegated to watching movies based on the wishes of a pre-teen. Steve sighed and moved over to where Sarah was. She stepped out and everyone watched as Steve failed multiple times to even jump into the ropes. Fraser and Cole slowed down the ropes as much as they could and showed Steve the easiest jump. He almost failed when Sarah jumped back in but picked up his feet before the ropes got stopped. 

“Why the hell is everyone in here instead of the cafeteria where lunch is supposed to be eaten?” Fury yelled as he entered the training room. 

He immediately shut up when the agents pointed to Sarah jumping with ease and Steve concentrating with all his might. Fury gave a short laugh and then looked at everyone. 

“Lunch ends in ten minutes. Make sure you do your damn job and get back to work on time.” 

“Yes sir,” all the agents said, not sparing him a second glance. 

* * *

Clint called in a burst of laughter after he received the picture from Steve. Nat was soon to follow. The matching Christmas pajamas were already ridiculous enough. The matching bonnets the two were wearing was icing on the cake. It was a small Christmas celebration, just Sarah and him, which reminded Steve a lot of him and his mom. The TV was playing Holiday reruns all day but the reruns were new to both Sarah and Steve. They exchanged presents. She had bought hers when she asked Nat to sneak her out the office for it. Steve opened his present to find a new jacket. Sarah opened hers to see the oil pastels she had been eyeing when they passed by the art store on their runs. 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

* * *

Sarah fell asleep on Steve’s shoulder before the New Year’s Countdown finished. He laughed because she had been so determined to stay up to witness her first celebration. Maybe he should’ve woken her up but the thought was too late. The ball already dropped and there was no point in waking her up now for what? 12:01 am? Not nearly as interesting. Steve picked Sarah up and carried her to her room, taking out the hearing aids to place them on the nightstand. 

* * *

“Where are you from?” Sarah asked Steve during her lunch break with the tutor. 

“New York. Brooklyn.”

“Has your family always lived in Brooklyn?”

“Unh-unh. My mom’s from Ireland. Immigrated over with her family.”

“So I’m half-Irish?”

“Yeah, kid. But it’s been years since I’ve celebrated anything even remotely Irish.” 

“Why?”

Steve took a bite of his sandwich. He honestly couldn’t remember why. He used to keep it hidden and just to the apartment of him and his mom. Then after she died he slowly stopped because Bucky wasn’t Irish and it just reminded him of his mother. After he entered the war, he became Captain America and, maybe because of how anti-Irish he saw people behave towards his mom growing up, he felt that he couldn’t— that it would somehow make him not Captain America. Not American. But now that didn’t matter. Except it did because he felt the problem was just passed down to Sarah. Second generation of marginalized group with a single parent. 

“It’s never too late to start again,” Sarah said. “March is Irish-American Heritage month, right after Black History.”

“Back to back celebrations. I like your thinking, Babydoll.” 

The two of them clinked the bottles of water together. 

“Did it surprise you?”

“Hmm?”

“I heard some of the agents talking about you.” 

“About what?” 

Steve still had to prod to get her to answer anything. Especially when it came to him or HYDRA. Sarah didn’t know much about him past his actual birth and how he ended up in the modern day— both her and Steve weren’t really ready for her to take a deep dive into her father’s history. So she hadn’t seen any pictures or watched any videos but sometimes she still heard things. 

“Coming from the 40s and suddenly seeing no segregation. How it must be weird having a mixed kid, that you probably never saw it coming.” 

“Have you read much about Brooklyn from my time?”

Sarah shook her head. She hadn’t looked much at Brooklyn at all in her history books. 

“I wasn’t rich, Sarah. We lived in the DUMBO area. Historically queer and non-white, lots of different walks of life and people. I might not get it all but I’ve seen it all. The only surprise I got was that you existed, not what the existence looked like.” 

Sarah smiled at Steve and then left to go back to the tutor. 

* * *

The car rides to work now involved Steve learning a new figure in black history for the entire month of February. He wasn’t even sure when Sarah read this information to give him a whole history class every single morning but without fail she had someone for him. 

“And Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was el—”

“Elected to Congress in 1942. Got you on that one, Babydoll,” Steve said as he cut her off. 

“How?”

“I’ve met him.” 

Steve laughed as Sarah ignored his comment and pulled up a different figure, not one to be outdone just because he happened to know who she was talking about. Sarah made the decision that for the rest of the month, she wasn't mentioning any historical figures from before Steve landed in ice. 

* * *

Steve turned the faucet of cold water when Sarah said the hot water was too hot. She surprisingly found the sink relaxing despite Steve’s too big hands trying to be gentle with curls that led to a yelp from her and a curse from him every single time he got caught on a tangle.

Her hair was growing but the wash was still quick, the deep conditioning however was not. It really is a whole day Steve realized and picked up the phone to order Chinese food because he was not about to cook after this. He probably should’ve timed it better because his hands were soaked in conditioner when the knocking on his door started. 

“Just a second.”

Steve gave the delivery man an apologetic smile as he handed him a slightly damp five dollar tip. Steve finished washing out the deep condition and the two went into the bathroom so he could finish doing her hair. The first part was easy, divide the front part of Sarah's hair into two and make two small buns. He was pretty sure he might have used too much gel when going through the free curls in the back to define them. Steve turned her to the side so he could actually see her face. 

“The baby hairs,” Sarah said as she pulled on the two buns to make them a little tighter. 

“Yeah, the baby hairs. We totally got this.” 

Steve stuck the toothbrush in the edge control and gently formed the baby hairs in swoops along the hairline. Sarah moved her head from side to side while looking in the mirror before nodding in approval. She and Steve high-fived at his first real hairstyle done well and went to the dining room table for the food. 

Steve was right. Baby hairs, totally got this. What he didn’t get was how dumb he was to buy a toothbrush for the baby hairs that resembled the toothbrush he used for his teeth. And then leave them both out next to each other after washing off the gel. If they were both clean then would it… no, it would bother Steve so he left to go buy a new toothbrush. 

* * *

Steve had a few hours before Clint dropped Sarah home. He looked around his house that only a year ago was relatively empty and just for him. Now there were various trinkets from missions, drawings that got switched out for other ones every three days, more of those straw and ribbon polyhedrons, lots of books, and a basket that held blankets. The handwoven one was currently resting on top. Steve moved to his room to take off the suit and change, he tried not to wear the suit around Sarah as much as possible— keep that identity separate. Even if he caught her looking at the shield more than once. 

He checked his phone and groaned at the two texts. The one from Clint he welcomed considering it said that they would be home in forty minutes. The other one was from Nat who had decided that Steve had adjusted long enough to now having a child and was ready to get into the dating pool. So he was staring at a text with the attachment of one of the secretaries. He was just going to ignore the text and hoped that Nat got the memo even though he knew she probably wouldn’t, or she would and just didn’t care. 

* * *

Steve’s birthday rolled around and the headline Sarah said last year was now a real one as the newspapers read: Captain America celebrates Independence Day with reparations. This was the second time actually. The first one was on Juneteenth to black organizations. Steve both times managed to keep Sarah out of the paparazzi, thank goodness. His birthday was a quiet event inside the apartment after the donation fiasco. But it was also quiet because fireworks sounded a lot like gunshots and Sarah was unprepared. 

They were loud enough to be heard clearly even without the hearing aids in so Steve was now attempting to distract Sarah with cake. The fireworks she could see were fine but the random ones that rang out and weren’t in the direction she was looking scared her, because she couldn’t connect the noise to something safe. 

* * *

So artistic abilities definitely ended with both of them when it came to pottery. Sarah and Steve only had clay lumps that vaguely resemble mugs. Following the teacher’s advice, they both got off the pottery wheel and went to the canvases that they were good at. The two sat across from each other and started to sketch each other. The pencil sketches were finished when the class was over. Sarah and Steve took the canvases home, wanting to work on them. 

Nick came into the office for a mission report during Steve’s lunch break to see the two of them— lunch in one hand, the other using pastels to color in their drawings of each other. Steve interrupted Sarah's drawing to grab her hand and rub multiple pastels on it until finding which combo would create her shade. Nick didn’t want to interrupt and walked out. He would just ask for the report when Sarah went back upstairs for tutoring. 

* * *

“Steve, sorry. I got called on a mission too and Sarah was freaking out about going with Laura and the kids to a new place—”

“Clint, it’s fine. Just where are you taking her?”

“We could only ask your neighbor. It’s not like people don’t know your face now, I mean we didn’t tell her in case she doesn’t but…”

“Don’t be surprised when I get home? Okay, thank you, man.” 

When the mission ended, Steve felt like shit. He called his blonde neighbor and asked her to keep Sarah at her place a little longer. He carefully snuck upstairs and almost made it into the house but he heard Sarah's foot shuffles and soon his neighbor’s front door opened. If Steve closed the door in her face, it would break all levels of trust but he was trying to avoid her seeing him busted up. 

“Hey, Babydoll,” he said while keeping his head down as he entered the apartment, leaving the door open for Sarah to follow. 

His attempt was a short-lived success as she ran to his bathroom before he could close the door. She gasped when she saw the cuts and bruises. 

“It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise. I’m fine, Sarah, I was trying not to have you see.” 

Sarah pointed to the toilet and made him sit on it. Steve watched her pull the first aid kit from his cabinet drawer and pull out the hydrogen peroxide and cotton. He grabbed her hand to stop her. 

“You don’t have to—”

“You fix my hair, I fix your face.” 

Steve shut up and let Sarah run the pad with hydrogen peroxide over his face. He opened his mouth to argue against the band-aids. Partly because they were unnecessary and partly because the band-aids were Frozen themed and not that he didn’t like the snowman but he didn’t exactly want Olaf on his face. But Sarah shut him up before he could even tell her what he was going to argue with her about. 


	6. Chapter 6

“Happy 14th birthday, Sarah!” 

Steve handed her a gift box. It had been a little under two years now with her dad and there were more ups than downs. She opened it to find multiple pairs of ballet shoes, including ones actually in her skin tone.

“You said you wanted to go back to dance. I thought maybe we’d enroll you in something, have you know more kids besides Clint’s.” 

While Sarah had opened up to Steve, Nat, and Clint, she was still very much affected by HYDRA. Steve had only gotten a clue to find her a therapist last year to work with. So for now she still went to work with Steve and learned from a tutor and textbooks— which her tutor struggled to find topics sometimes because her mother had already covered them. 

Speaking of her mother, Steve had yet to find any living relatives. If he had to be honest, he wasn’t trying very hard. He wasn’t sure if he actually had real custody since HYDRA used him more as a glorified sperm donor than anything and maybe Sarah's family would want to take her and he wouldn’t be able to do much to stop it. 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

Sarah gave him a hug and then the two left for their daily morning run. About two weeks ago, Sarah announced that she had gotten bored of the old route so her and Steve decided to switch it up. Steve was still faster but not by much and enjoyed testing and racing her. The two were usually wild with how they ran considering no one else was around but the cars; however, there was one other person out today on their new path. 

“On your left,” Steve called as the two ran past the man.

“On your left,” he called again after another couple of passes. 

“Yep, on my left. Got it.” 

The man must have been running the same path as the two because they had passed him again. He could hear Sarah and Steve coming and looked over his shoulder. 

“Don’t say it. Don’t say it.”

“On your left,” Steve said as he ran past. 

“Oh come on!” 

Sarah laughed and slowed down to jog with him for a moment. 

“Sorry about my dad,” Sarah said before taking off again, yelling at Steve. “Cheater! You know I stopped to apologize!” 

When she and Steve had finished their race— him winning, because he cheated— Sarah spotted the man sweaty and breathing heavily underneath a tree. Steve approached him. 

“Need a medic?” he joked.

“More like a new set of lungs. You two just ran, what, thirteen miles in a half hour?”

“Guess we got a late start.”

“Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap… did you just take it? I assume you just took it.” 

Steve laughed before spotting the symbol on the man’s sweatshirt. 

“What unit are you with?”

“58th Pararescue. But now I’m working down at the VA. Sam Wilson.”

“Steve Rogers,” Steve said as he extended a hand to pull Sam up. “This is Sarah.”

“Kind of put that together. Must’ve freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing.” 

“It takes some getting used to but this one’s trying to help me out.” Steve threw an arm around Sarah's shoulder. 

“Nice hair, you two match.” 

Sam had commented in attempts to acknowledge the girl, causing her to groan as he pointed to the honey blonde and straight pixie cut that looked scarily similar to Steve’s old hair from the 40s. 

“I just said the wrong thing, didn’t I? Don’t like the cut?”

“It’s supposed to be this big.” Sarah made a vague gesture to a large head of curls she should’ve had after two consistent years of hair growth. 

“I said I was sorry, Babydoll.” 

“Go ahead, tell him what you did.” 

**_It was a few months ago. Both Sarah and Steve were still learning how to do her hair as it slowly got longer and thicker. They came to the conclusion that the curl butter and softening conditioner they had bought wasn’t keeping the curls moisturized and soft enough. So Steve said that when he came back from a mission he’d buy a different one._ **

**_Clint dropped Sarah off at home after they came back from the farm and Steve proudly announced he found the new product he hoped would work and had learned a new twist out style. Sarah sat down on the floor and let him run the product throughout her whole head. It wasn’t very long into it that her head started to itch._ **

**_“Dad, is it supposed to burn?”_ **

**_The two ran to the sink and washed out the product but the damage was already done. So Steve once again busted out the clippers and tried to console Sarah while she watched the blonde, damaged hair hit the floor._ **

**_He tried to make it better by cutting his hair as well which didn’t help much when his grew back to its normal style in a short amount of time while she was stuck. She wasn't sure if the straight hair looked significantly better than the curls, all of it was at such an awkward length, but she was just buying time till the hair was back to a length they could work with again._**

Sam was laughing his ass off at Steve’s expense. “You didn’t…”

“How was I supposed to know? I told the lady that she was looking for something to soften the curls.”

“You softened them alright,” Sarah muttered. 

“I was told to stay away from perms. No one said there were more straighteners than a perm. She said it would keep some texture.”

“Cause it was a texturizer! Why would you even ask the beauty supply lady?”

“You asked at the beauty supply store?!” Sam was damn near in tears now. “My man, it went south the minute you walked through the door.”

“Okay, I get it you two. I messed up big time,” Steve said as he rubbed at his back. 

“It’s your bed, right?” Sam noticed the rubbing. 

“What’s that?”

“Your back. The bed, it’s too soft. When I was over there, I’d sleep on the ground, use rocks for pillows. Now I’m home, lying in my bed and it’s like…”

“Lying on a marshmallow. Feel like I’m gonna sink right to the floor. How long?”

“Two tours.”

“You must miss the good old days, huh?” 

“Well, things aren’t so bad. Food’s a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio’s good. Internet, so helpful in trying to catch up. And I’ve got a family, didn’t really think that’d be possible.” Sarah and Steve fist-bumped. 

“He’s got a list, in a little notebook and everything,” Sarah chimed in. 

“Marvin Gaye, 1972. Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album.”

Steve felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out to see a text from Nat stating he had a mission and would be where they were in about two minutes. 

“Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run.” Steve shook his hand. “If that’s what you call running.”

“Oh, that’s how it is? Oh, that’s how it is,” Sam chuckled while Steve gave him a blinding smile. 

“Nice to meet you Mr. Sam,” Sarah said shaking his hand as well. 

Sam called out as the two started to walk off. “Any time you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome, just let me know.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Yeah.” 

Nat’s sleek car pulled up. 

“Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil.”

“So funny.” 

Steve rolled his eyes before opening the car door for Sarah. He got into the passenger’s seat himself.

“Sarah, was it?” Sam called and the girl rolled down the window. “You know Howard?”

“The HBCU?”

“Yeah. All sorts of college girls that braid cheap, someone can help you out.”

“Thank you!” Sarah patted Steve on the shoulder. “First thing we’re doing when you get back, old man.” 

“Howard, you said?” Steve asked Sam.

“Yep,” Sam said before the car sped off.

“Hey, Sarah. Clint’s on a mission too but we’ve already got your flight to the airport, Laura’s waiting for you there,” Nat said. 

“Cool.” 

Sarah looked over to see Nat already had her suitcase. If it was anyone else Sarah would feel some type of way that she just easily breaks into their apartment at any moment. But it was Aunt Natasha. She was on the girl's small list of people that she liked and trusted. 

* * *

“You know if you ask Kristen from Statistics, she’d say yes,” Nat said as they suit up to jump out the jet and land onto the rogue ship in the Indian Ocean.

“What’s that face?” Nat asked when Steve scrunched his nose before putting on the helmet. 

“Sarah’s not a fan.” 

“I thought she liked Kri… nope, it was Kiely. Damnit, I think she has a boyfriend though.”

“Oh, wow, isn’t that too bad.” Steve’s voice dripped with sarcasm before he jumped out the jet. 

When he returned home from a mission, just like promised Sarah was taken to Howard after a nice girl offered to do her hair. Steve walked with her through the campus until they met the girl outside the main library where she said she would be. 

As a junior, Imani— as she introduced herself— lived in off campus housing nearby. Imani assured Steve that the rest of her roommates were fine people, not that anyone would try anything stupid anyway in Steve’s mere presence, and they wouldn’t go blabbing that they met Captain America’s kid. She already had all the supplies including hair after getting a picture of Sarah's hair. 

“Yep, that’s a match,” Imani said, holding the hair up. 

Steve’s phone rang after about half of Sarah's head was done. When he hung up he looked over from his spot on the spare couch. 

“Um, how much longer do we think it’s going to take?” 

Imani and her roommates started laughing. 

“Mission?” Sarah asked. 

“Yeah, Babydoll. They’re asking me to go in two hours.”

“Captain Rogers, this is going to take more than two hours. Maybe four,” Imani informed him. 

Steve’s eyes bugged. Four more hours? It had already been like three hours. Steve picked up the phone again and the college students poorly acted like they weren’t eavesdropping on his conversation. 

“Rumlow, how badly am I needed? Level… Can I get there tomorrow? Yeah, I’m kind of doing something. Maybe four hours… you can’t wait, fine fine. Give me a minute… Hey, Clint?… yeah, just for two days. I’ll send the location, we’re at Howard… NO! I’m not hitting on col— what is the matter with you… that’s not fun— stop laughing, okay bye. Pick her up in four hours, are you listening? Thank you.”

Steve got up and kissed the top of Sarah's head where the braids were already finished. He pulled out his wallet to give Imani the money and left extra for all of them to order food much to the gratitude of all the college kids in the room. 

“Alright, Babydoll. Duty calls, see you in two days.”

Sarah held out a pinky. “Two days.”

“Two days or I’ll call.”

Clint came in four hours later just like he was supposed to. 

“Hi, Uncle Clint.”

“Sarah! Hair looks great. Ready to go?”

Sarah got her stuff, telling Imani they could keep the change from the leftover food money and left with Clint. 

* * *

Sarah and Steve both faced their fears and decided to go to the Smithsonian where there was an exhibit on him. He felt Sarah was old enough now so Steve dusted off his helmet and broke out the motorcycle. She enjoyed how open the motorcycle was. 

The Smithsonian exhibit was kind of cool. Steve led her through the exhibit, adding little anecdotes where the histories stopped short. While Sarah was staring at his old shield from the USO shows, Steve turned around to see the glass panel with writing on it about Bucky. Sarah turned around to find her dad when she caught what he was staring at. Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw the picture. 

“Sarah? Something wrong?”

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” 

Steve dropped it. Sarah had never said she didn’t want to talk about something. Even if it was HYDRA related, she would just get quiet until he made her comfortable enough to talk. But this was new. Steve didn’t want to ruin the day so he let it go and the two walked to where they had a film set up. Sarah liked watching the woman named Peggy. She seemed nice and Sarah could see why her dad liked her. 

Meanwhile, Steve had come for closure. He had seen Peggy many times now that she was older, having yet to bring Sarah, and he had come to the acceptance that she had lived her good life. She had lived her life and it was time for Steve to move on and live his. But he wanted to see her as he remembered her one last time. Steve looked down from the screen to flip open his compass that now held a black and white picture of Sarah. He closed it and took her hand. 

“Come on, kid. Someone I want you to meet.” 

Sarah gently shook Peggy’s hand. Peggy smiled seeing the girl. She turned her head to address Steve who was sitting in the visitor’s chair right next to her bed. 

“I lived my life and had only one regret that you didn’t get to live yours. I’m glad you’ve found something to live for.”

“Yeah, my whole world now.”

“You were always so dramatic,” Peggy joked, making them both laugh until Peggy erupted in a fit of coughs. 

Steve stood up to pour her glass of water while Sarah sprung up to call a nurse. 

“Steve?” Peggy gasped. “You’re alive! You came back.”

“Yeah, Peggy.” 

“It’s been so long, so so long.”

“I still owed you a dance.”

When the nurse arrived, Steve guided the family of two out. Sarah patted his arm and smiled in reassurance. Steve looked down at her. He had a new best girl that he would do anything for and couldn’t really see it any other way now. Even if she didn’t always remember, Peggy said she was proud of Steve for moving on. And he was too— because honestly, he never thought he would. 

* * *

Steve and Sarah entered the building where the VA was located. They could hear Sam’s group talking and waited against the doorframe so as not to draw much attention to themselves. Steve seemed like he was intently listening to Sam’s word. The two waited quietly until the meeting was over and Sam had said his goodbyes to the last person.

“Look who it is, the running man,” Sam said. “And baby Rogers, nice braids.”

Sarah waved to Sam and stood a little off to the side.

“Caught the last few minutes. It’s pretty intense,” Steve said as he leaned against the wall. 

“Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret.”

“You lose someone?”

“My wingman, Riley. Standard rescue op until an RPG knocked Riley’s dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do, it’s like I was up there just to watch.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“After that, I just had a hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?”

“But you’re happy now, back in the world?”

“Number of people giving me orders is down to about zero so hell yeah. Are you thinking about getting out?”

“No,” Steve said before looking over at Sarah. “I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know what I would do with myself if I did.”

“Ultimate fighting? See, she agrees with me.” Sam gave Sarah a high-five after she snorted at his comment.

“You can do whatever you want man. What makes you happy?”

Steve’s eyes looked over Sam before meeting his eyes. He sighed. “I don’t know.” 

Sarah hit his side. 

_You, of course, Sarah._


	7. Chapter 7

It was late when Sarah and Steve got home from seeing Peggy. They saw their neighbor with a load of laundry as she just got off the phone. 

“You know you’re welcome to use our machine. Least we could do for all your help.”

“Oh, no problem. But I’ve already got a load in downstairs plus these scrubs have been to the infectious disease ward,” she laughed as Steve held up his hands. “Oh, I think you guys left your speaker on.”

“Oh, right. Thank you.”

Steve waited till she walked away, telling Sarah to stay outside. They could both hear the jazz music coming from inside the house. Steve went back downstairs and snuck in through his window. He sighed when he saw it was Nick and stomped over to the door to open it for Sarah to come through. 

“I don’t remember giving you a key.”

“You’d really think I’d need one? My wife kicked me out.”

“Didn’t know you were married.”

“A lot of things you don’t know about me.”

“Yeah, Nick. That’s kind of the problem.” 

Steve went to turn on the lights and when he did both he and Sarah almost gasped at the sight of Nick. He held up a finger telling them both to be quiet before clicking off the lamp closest to him. Nick typed up something on his phone for Steve to read: **Ears Everywhere.**

Sarah screamed as the first few bullets stormed through the house and hit Nick. Steve threw her the shield while he dragged Nick to a safer spot towards the back of the apartment. Nick slipped something in Steve’s hand. 

“Don’t trust anyone.” 

Steve looked over as the door clicked open. 

“Captain Rogers.”

Sarah and Steve looked in confusion as their neighbor came in with a handgun. 

“Captain, Sarah. I’m Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service.”

“Kate?”

“I’m assigned to protect you.”

“On whose order?”

“His,” Agent 13 said as she knelt over Nick’s body. 

She pulled out a walkie talkie. “Foxtrot is down. He’s unresponsive. I need EMTs.”

“Do we have the shooter in custody?” the dispatcher asked.

Steve took the shield from you. “Tell him I’m in pursuit.”

Sarah watched her dad jump from the apartment building to the one across the street while she stayed with Agent 13 until they whisked Fury away to a hospital. Nat came bursting into the waiting room where Sarah and Steve were, watching them operate on Nick. 

“Is he going to make it?” 

“We don’t know,” Steve said. 

“The shooter.”

“He’s fast. Strong. Had a metal arm.” 

Sarah tensed up. It didn’t go unnoticed by Steve and Nat. Steve pulled Sarah in, cradling her head to keep her vision away from the window. 

“You shouldn’t be watching this.” 

He tried to shield Sarah even more as they tried to revive Nick, failing in the end. Steve told her to wait in the hall while he and Nat mourned. Maybe it was pointless but he didn’t think she needed to add Nick to the alarmingly long list of people she has seen die in front of her. Sarah looked up when Nat stormed into the hall with Steve hot on her trail. 

“Natasha.”

“Why was Fury in your apartment?”

“I don’t know.”

“Cap, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D.” Rumlow interrupted. 

“Sarah…”

“They want you now.”

“Okay.” 

“You’re a terrible liar,” Nat said before walking off. 

Steve looked around for a moment, his eyes landing on the vending machine, before turning back to his kid. 

“Sarah, let’s go.” His hand was on her shoulder, guiding her out as they followed Rumlow and the STRIKE team back to headquarters. 

* * *

The Rogers were walking to the elevators when they saw Agent 13 in an office suit. Steve was about to leave on a mission and wasn’t sure what to do after talking with Nick, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Sarah with anyone he wasn’t sure of at the moment. Agent 13 spotted them since she was headed in the opposite direction. 

“Captain Rogers.”

“Neighbor,” Steve said before his mouth hardlined. 

Sarah offered Agent 13 a small smile because Steve was more stubborn than her. But she kept walking with him because a part of Sarah felt betrayed as well— she thought people were done lying and tricking her. A man stopped the two. 

“Captain. I’m Alexander Pierce.”

“Sir, it’s an honor.”

“The honor’s mine. My father served in the 101st. Come on in, it’s nice to meet you Sarah. Will you wait outside while your father and I talk?” 

Sarah didn’t want to leave. Especially after last night, she was already struggling to let Steve go on his latest mission. Steve seemed to sense it because he grabbed her shoulder. Sarah took out her hearing aids and handed them to Steve. Pierce swallowed but seemed to accept the compromise and she followed him into the office. She looked out the window as they spoke, knowing she'd be able to read Pierce’s lips. When Steve stood up so did Sarah and she followed him back out, almost knocking into him when he stopped suddenly after Pierce called his name. 

One of the things Sarah liked about S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was that the elevators at the very end of the halls were glass and let her see the outside world. She and Steve looked out the glass as he commanded the elevator to take him somewhere. He turned around and so did Sarah, now seeing that the elevator hadn’t started to go down because Rumlow and the STRIKE team was entering. Steve greeted them and she went back to looking at the window. 

The elevator stopped not on their floor and more men piled in. Steve grabbed Sarah and shifted her in front of him and closer to the doors as the elevator began to get packed. He looked over at the man next to him and watched a bead of sweat roll down his face. The elevator stopped once again and three more large men were standing there waiting to get on. Steve put Sarah's hearing aids back in. 

“Sarah, take the next elevator.” He started to push her out of the elevator, not really able to follow with all the bodies. 

“Come on, Cap. No one would ever think about it,” one of the men said.

“Can never be too careful, nothing personal guys. Four floors down, Babydoll.” 

Steve signed as he spoke. But the words didn’t match. No one else would know but Sarah was confused. 

“Four floors down, Babydoll. Operations Room, got it?” Steve repeated with the same wrong signs: _Don’t go home. Understood? Home. Don’t._

“Okay, Dad. Operations Room,” Sarah said as Rumlow pushed the button for the elevator doors to start to close. 

Steve carefully signed very close to his body so that no one else would see it. 

_Run._

Sarah heard the crack of a taser wand the minute she sprinted. She looked behind her with wide eyes as she saw the men turn on Steve but didn’t stop running because he told her to go. There was another STRIKE team about two floors down that were standing in front of her. Sarah threw all her weight into the emergency exit stairs and ran before they could do anything. Less of the STRIKE team was following her, Steve being number one target. The plan was to use her as leverage because everyone knew Steve wasn’t going to leave his kid. One man got close until Sarah turned and grabbed him, slamming him into the railing and then throwing him into the next closest agent. 

Her lungs burned because even as half super-soldier, she chose not to stop until she was in a location where she felt she could hide in the crowd which pushed her past her limits. Steve said not to go home. Because they knew where he lived but where were she supposed to go. And how was she supposed to find him? Her phone was missing. Sarah had chucked it at the security guard’s neck, the only space not covered, and never stopped to pick it up as she left S.H.I.E.L.D. 

She ripped the hearing aids off, not even wanting them on, as she tried not to hyperventilate. No one seemed to notice or care as she crouched in the grass trying to think. Sarah stood back up, put the aids in, and looked around. She knew this location. Sarah walked, more like ran, with deliberation to the brick building. 

“Baby Rogers! Where’s running ma— Sarah, are you okay?” Sam’s joking tone turned to one of concern as he saw her enter the VA building. 

“Dad. They’re trying to kill my dad, he told me… I didn’t know anyone else to trust.”

“Okay, hey Sarah, you’re good. Alright. Do you know where he is now?”

“No! My phone, I lost—”

“Sarah, sweetheart, calm down. Do you know his number?”

Steve told her not to go home but now Sarah wasn't picking up his calls. He didn’t have time to panic, he had one place to stop before starting a manhunt for her again. Steve checked the vending machine where he hid the flash drive Nick had given him. The machine was empty but he saw the reflection of Nat in the glass as she popped a bubble out of the gum she was blowing. Steve turned around and shoved her into an empty room and up against a wall. 

“Where is it?”

“Safe,” Nat said. 

“Do better.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Fury gave it to you. Why?”

“What’s on it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where’s Sarah?”

“Sarah’s missing?”

“Don’t bullshit me! Where’s my daughter?” Steve pinned her up to the wall even more.

“I’m not. I only act like I know everything, Rogers. I don’t know what Fury said but I’m on your side.”

“I swe— hello?” Steve answered his phone. “Sarah?! Babydoll, are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?”

“I’m okay, Dad. I’m at—”

“No names, they could have the phone tapped. Hint, Babydoll.” 

“…On your left.” 

“My left… alright. I’ll find you okay. Stay on your left, three days.” 

“Three days, promise?”

“Promise and I won’t call, I’ll be right there. Okay? I’m with you, Babydoll.” 

“Till the end of the line?” Sarah asked, remembering the Smithsonian visit. She felt like she needed extra reassurance and Steve seemed to say that a lot when he was Captain America in the 40s. 

“Unh-unh. I’m with you past that, Sarah.” 

“Three days. Love you, Dad.” 

“Love you, too.”

The phone clicked off. Steve would’ve liked to hear those words under better circumstances and not said because Sarah thought she actually might not hear or see him again. Steve turned back to Nat to press her for more information on what she did know. 

* * *

The knocking on the door alerted Sam who was in the kitchen drinking orange juice after having just come from his morning run— Sarah didn’t budge, having not heard a sound with her hearing aids on the table. He rolled up the blinds on the second glass door to see a dusty Nat and Steve. 

“Hey, man.”

“I’m so sorry about this.” 

“She’s in the kitchen.”

Sam moved aside for Steve to race past him and into the house. Sarah's back was to them from where she was sitting at the table. Steve reached over her and knocked on the table. Immediately flying up from the chair, Sarah hugged him in a death grip. After an eternity, she let go of Steve and hugged Nat before letting them both clean off in Sam’s bathroom. 

“I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing,” Sam interrupted Steve and Nat’s talk.

“So the question is, who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile attack?” Nat asked. 

“Pierce,” Steve answered.

“Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world,” Nat retorted. 

“But he’s not working alone.”

“Zola’s algorithm was on the Lemurian Star so was Jasper Sitwell.”

“So how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?”

“The answer is, you don’t.” Sam plopped down his old file in front of them. “Consider this a resume.”

“The Khalid Khandil mission,” Nat said, looking the file over. “That was you?” 

“You didn’t say he was a Pararescue. Is this Riley?” Steve asked. 

Sam handed them a second part of the file. Steve opened it, looking at the pictures inside. 

“I thought you were a pilot.”

“I never said pilot.” 

“I can’t ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason.”

“Dude, Captain America needs my help. Last one of those is in Fort Meade. Guarded heavily.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Steve said as he dropped the file reading EXO-7 Falcon on the table. 

Steve sighed. He now had to confront something he had been avoiding for months now. Steve looked at Sarah.

“I’m taking you to your grandparents.”

“What? No!”

“We can’t risk you going to Clint’s. I found Elise’s parents, their house is on the way to Fort Meade. You’ll be safe wi—”

“No! I’m not going with them. You’re not leaving me again!”

“Sarah, it’s another mission. We’ve done this before, just once more and I’ll quit, okay?”

“No.”

“Sarah.”

“No! This isn’t another mission, it’s about S.H.I.E.L.D. I don’t want you to quit. I like my dad being Captain America but you’re not leaving me this time.”

* * *

“Stay in the car,” Steve said as they left to go get Jasper Sitwell. “Don’t even argue. The car, stay here.”

Sarah shut her mouth and sat back in the seat. Steve cradled the back of her head for a moment before he closed the car door. She couldn’t see where Steve and Nat had gone but she could see Sam sitting on the bench in front of where the car was parked on the curb. Sarah was uncomfortably sandwiched between Jasper and Nat as the car sped off. 

“Insight’s launching in sixteen hours. We’re cutting it close,” Nat said as she leaned over. 

The window was suddenly smashed and Jasper was pulled from the car. Nat pushed Sarah down and then launched herself into the front seat, maneuvering her body to cover Steve while pushing Sam to the edge of the car as much as possible. Steve shoved the gear shift into park. The car lurched forward and a man was thrown from the car. 

Sarah was about to get up from the floor of the car when a large Jeep slammed into the back, jostling her back to the floor. Nat attempted to find the gun that had fallen by Steve’s feet. The man used his metal arm to rip the steering wheel out of the car. He jumped onto the Jeep behind them before Nat could properly shoot him. The car began to swerve and hit other cars. The Jeep pulled back and rammed into the car again causing it to start to flip. 

“Sarah!” Steve yelled. 

He couldn’t reach his daughter as the car flipped. He, Sam, and Nat fell out on the broken passenger’s side door. The door was sliding along the freeway and while Steve couldn’t see it, he had horror written all over his face as he imagined the car flipping over multiple times. Once the sliding stopped, he quickly stood up but didn’t have time to try and reach the car as the metal armed man pointed a large grenade launcher at them. Steve shoved Nat and braced himself with the shield. The impact knocked him over the overpass and into a bus. 

Sarah heard the gunshots and stayed where she was in the car— partially because she felt very banged up. She groaned in slight pain as her right hand reached around gently for the hearing aid that had fallen out, trying not to get glass stuck in your hand. When it got quiet on the overpass, the only noise coming from the cars, Sarah slowly and carefully slid herself out of the car. She could see Sam shooting at the people below. Sam was relieved as she approached. 

“Where’s my dad?”

“Going after the dude with the damn metal arm.”

“Metal arm?!” 

Sarah looked over the bridge, seeing Sam had gotten all but two. Two, that wasn’t so bad. Only four or five gunshots at the most maybe. She stood back and then ran at the overpass. Sam screamed her name but Sarah ignored him, landing on one of the overturned cars before speeding off. Sam cursed as he went back to shooting before the two men could aim at her. 

The sound that rang out when the metal arm of the Winter Soldier hit Steve’s shield was damn near deafening. Steve was kicked off the car and had to quickly use the shield to block his body from the shots. The metal arm had thrown him and was starting to give him a run for his money. But also because Steve was only half-focused on the fight. 

The other half of his mind was stuck on the overpass where he wasn’t sure if his daughter had survived the car flipping over or not. His wandering mind caused him to lose the shield as the Winter Soldier threw it into a van. He flipped out a knife and Steve was now holding his hands inches away from his face. 

“James! Soldat. Jamie!” Sarah yelled as she ran into the street. 

Steve and the Winter Soldier turned to her, confusion in both of their eyes. Steve snapped out of it first and kicked the man to escape. Sarah ran in between the two of them as James’ fist almost connected with Steve’s face. She hissed at the pain from when she blocked it. She knew he wouldn’t hit her. Would he do anything to get around her and get to Steve? Probably. But he would try his hardest not to hit her… even if she attacked him. So Sarah hit him between the eyes and pulled the mask off his face as he staggered back. 

“Bucky?” Steve gasped. 

“Who the hell is Bucky?” He began to stalk forward again. 

“Jamie.”

He looked over at Sarah. “It’s a mission, little doll.”

“He’s my dad, please Jamie.”

Bucky stopped. He ripped Steve’s shield out of the side of the van and shoved it back into Steve’s chest. 

“Go. Before they take you back.” 

“Come with us, we can help.” 

Sarah watched the recognition he had slowly get clouded again by something else. 

“You said we’d escape together! Jamie…”

Sam kicked the Winter Soldier out of the way and then a grenade from Nat was thrown and after the smoke cleared, James was nowhere to be found. 

“No!” Sarah screamed as she looked around for him. 

Black vans surrounded them. The four of them found themselves being forced to their knees by large men with guns. The only thing stopping their death was the news helicopter that suddenly appeared and Rumlow realizing how bad it could look. They stood them all up and Sarah found herself being taken to a separate van. Steve started to fight, struggling with the weird handcuffs he was placed in. Sarah were being contained by multiple guards. 

“Sarah! Sarah! Where the hell are you taking her? That’s my daughter! Rumlow, that’s my fucking kid!” 

“HYDRA wants their pet back.”

Sam, Steve, and Nat watched in horror as Sarah's body slowly went slack when Rumlow started speaking in Russian: **Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, Freight car.**

“Ready to comply?” 

“Ready to comply.” Sarah turned to follow the soldiers. 

“Sarah!” 

“001.”

The guard called when they all noticed her turn around at Steve’s words. Steve called her name again and the recognition reappeared until the guard said 001. Before Steve could say another word, Sarah's hearing aids were ripped out and crushed. She was pushed into a separate van.


	8. Chapter 8

Sarah didn’t recognize most of these men. Her old guards must have died…no wait, S.H.I.E.L.D. That’s right they were from S.H.I.E.L.D. The memories were slowly fading back in, their mind control could never last very long. She looked up from her spot on the floor of the van in panic. She couldn’t move very much, being locked up in several different cuffs and she couldn’t hear very well. Right, they crushed the hearing aids. 

“Where’s my dad?!” 

The guards ignored her pleas until the one directly across from Sarah shoved her foot and yelled a gruff ‘shut up’. She was back to where she started. Only after two years of relying on her hearing aids, it required more straining to try and hear them. Sarah followed them out of the van and was shoved into some dark building. A blindfold was pulled over her eyes. Like that would stop her, she could still memorize it. Straight down, three flights of stairs, left, another set of stairs, straight for twenty seconds, a right. Light flooded Sarah's vision and she was greeted with James staring down Alexander Pierce. 

“Soldat, your little technician’s here,” one guard said.

“Fix his arm.”

Pierce turned to Sarah when she didn’t move. He looked and couldn’t see the green hearing aids. Pierce didn’t bother to raise his voice but just repeat his words forcing her to look up at him and focus on his lips while trying to hear him. She understood but she was still shaking. 

“Did you hear me?! Fix his damn arm!”

“Where’s my dad?”

Pierce stepped closer and grabbed Sarah by the collar of her shirt. 

“Doll!” 

James yelled loud enough that she could semi hear him. Pierce let go of her so Sarah could see him.

_Just do as he says._

Sarah grabbed the toolbox off to the side and sat on the stool right by James. It wasn’t very complicated. It was still short circuiting from when Nat had electrocuted it but the job shouldn’t be too hard. She opened up a few of the metal panels, the mechanical whirring high pitched enough that it cut through the silence despite not being very loud.

“Wh- Who changed the wires?”

“What?” Pierce asked.

James looked down at where Sarah's eyes were focused on the wires. He used his other hand to grab the left one.

“This one’s the blue one. The other is purple.”

She nodded and felt comfortable enough to work, knowing she wouldn’t accidentally make him worse. James moved his arm after Sarah had closed the panel, all the proper feeling had returned and it was no longer short circuiting. 

_Thank you, little doll._

“What are you doing with her?” James asked aggressively as Sarah was pushed back into a chair that matched his.

A gun was pointed at her.

“Get up Soldat and she’s done. Prep them both.”

James sat back and opened his mouth for the scientist to place the mouth guard in. He looked Sarah in the eye and nodded for her to do the same. 

“How much sir?” The scientist asked.

“He needs to remember her.”

“And 001? Do we want to wipe completely?”

“No. She needs to remember her mother and Soldat. Three years to be safe. 001 shouldn’t know her own name or have a face connected to a Steve Rogers,” Pierce said. 

Rumlow bent down in front of Sarah. “We can thank Cap for one thing. Morning training for two years means we don’t have to do any work.” 

He patted her cheek and gave a condescending smile before he and Pierce walked out of the room. Sarah tensed up as cuffs tightened over her arms, keeping her in place. The chairs tilted back and two large metal panels covered parts of her face. She and James’ screams were muffled by the mouth guards as they were electrocuted. 

* * *

“It was him. He looked right at me like he didn’t even know me,” Steve said as he looked at the industrial cuff meant to subdue a super-soldier. 

“How is that even possible? It was, like, 70 years ago,” Sam piped up.

“Zola. Bucky’s whole unit was captured in ‘43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky… he recognized Sarah, stopped fighting because she asked.”

“So HYDRA had them at the same facility?” Nat tried to put the pieces together. 

“I think so… I should’ve sent her to her grandparents.”

“Steve it’s not—”

“No. Don’t say it’s not my fault. I should’ve sent her no matter how much she kicked and screamed.”

“And break every ounce of trust you worked so hard to build with her? It was a lose-lose situation.”

“One would have had her safe at least.” 

“We’ll get her ba—” Nat’s words were cut short as she groaned in pain. 

“We need to get a doctor here,” Sam said as he looked at the bleeding bullet wound on her shoulder. “If we don’t put pressure on that, she’ll bleed out here in the truck.” 

A soldier cracked out a small staff that buzzed with electricity. They turned that staff on the others and they all dropped. 

“Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain.” The soldier took off her helmet. “Who’s this?”

“Sam Wilson,” Steve answered. 

“Well, Maria Hill. One of the good guys.” 

* * *

Steve sighed and rested his elbows on the railing of the bridge. They had a plan, Nick compromised and agreed that S.H.I.E.L.D. would be rebuilt underneath the Avengers and after an extensive vetting. But they didn’t have you. And when Nick asked where you were when they first arrived, Steve just got quiet and moved on to business. 

“He’s gonna be there, you know,” Sam said after a moment when he joined. 

“I know.”

“Look, whoever he used to be and the guy he is now, I don’t think he’s the kind you save. He’s the kind you stop.” 

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

Sam placed a hand on Steve’s arm. 

“He might not give you a choice. I know you said he saved you and Sarah but we saw the freaky brainwash shit, she became mindless. They’ve probably done the same to him or worse. He doesn’t know you.”

“He will. Gear up, it’s time.” Steve started to walk away. 

“You gonna wear that?” Sam asked.

“Nope. If you’re gonna fight a war, you got to wear a uniform.”

* * *

They left Sarah and James in the chairs and cleared out. James stood up first, he could handle the wipings better than Sarah— he always was able to. James walked over to where she was still in the chair and shaking. She panicked when she felt a hand on her knee until she registered the cold feeling of metal. Sarah finally lifted her head and gave a small smile. 

“Are you okay, little doll?” James refused to call her 001 like the rest of them. 

“Jamie…”

“Don’t give them a reason to bring you back here. Can you stand?” 

James extended a hand to help Sarah up. He stood behind her as he guided her out of the room. She changed her hair. It wasn’t the tangled dark brown he remembered from last time. It was blonde and braided… he remembered that blonde from somewhere. And she looked older. He couldn’t remember if he had missed a chunk of time with her. 

The room Sarah was in was padded. James opened the door and she entered, knowing better than to fight with the cameras and the guards standing about. James was about to sit down with her when a guard stopped him. 

“They need you. Follow Smith. 001 isn’t going anywhere.” 

James left and Sarah felt alone. She sat down on the padded floor and started to cry. Her mind started to wander and Sarah looked to the door, hoping James would come back. James… she remembered a fight? No, not a fight. She punched James in the face and pulled off a mask. But, why? Sarah couldn’t remember. But why would HYDRA want her to forget a fight with James? It wasn’t like she wasn't forced to fight him before. 

**"** Because we weren’t in a training room", she thought. 

Sarah remembered the street, some street. But that was all before she passed out against the padded floor— the wiping having taken a toll on her. 

* * *

Steve felt himself being dragged out of the water. The last thing he remembered was stopping the Lemurian Star before it exploded. He coughed slightly and groaned as he was thrown onto the dirt. Steve didn’t have time to process what was happening as Bucky’s face appeared over him. 

“I know you,” Bucky said unsure. 

“Sarah…” Steve huffed out.

“Sarah? Little doll?” 

Bucky helped him stand, Steve using the man for most of his support. They slowly walked back to the now destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters where Nat, Sam, and Maria were waiting. They ran to Steve when they saw him and took him from Bucky. Bucky stood there confused and slowly followed them, careful not to make sudden movements as they set Steve in the car and rushed him to the hospital. 

Sam set up the phone to play the Marvin Gaye soundtrack while Steve was still sleeping after being checked out by the hospital staff. He had been out for two days straight, now. Bucky stayed on the chair in the corner while Sam took the one nearest the hospital bed. They both sat quietly, Sam reading, until Bucky finally broke the silence. 

“Little doll. Her real name is Sarah?”

Sam looked up from his magazine. 

“Sarah Elise Rogers.” 

“She’s not twelve is she?”

“Fourteen.”

“It’s been two years,” Bucky muttered. 

“What?”

“I used to train her, protect her…” 

“Do you know where she is?” Steve had woken up and caught the tail end of Bucky and Sam talking. 

“I think so.” 

* * *

When she woke up it must’ve been dark, Sarah didn’t know. There were no windows but they had turned the lights off. She sat up and the lights flickered on again. Not off, motion censored. Sarah looked at her hands and then at the door. No guards. It was definitely a trap. She stood up and paced the floor. 

The street. The street flooded her vision again and suddenly she didn’t see herself in the padded cell but in the middle of a street in… Sarah didn’t know where. She looked around for landmarks but there wasn’t anything significant. She was pulled from the vision and staring back at her plain room. 

“Come on, doll, think,” Sarah muttered to herself. 

“Street. It was a street and Jamie and I were fighting… not fighting. I hit him. I hit him and pulled his mask off because… he needed to fall back so I could move. Not me, someone else? Me. So I could escape… no not me, so someone else could escape. So, so…” 

Sarah flopped onto the floor of the cell, slowly turning herself until she was on her back. The tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Her fists pounded the plush ground. 

“So someone… Come on, doll. Think. Think, Babydoll… babydoll?” 

That was a name she knew but she wasn't sure why. It wasn’t from James. She was his little doll. Her mother? Sarah sat up. 

“Mom?” she asked in a panic and sighed when she remembered. “They killed her.” 

Sarah pulled herself into a meditation position. She was glad she at least remembered the nickname. It was better than 001. She started to recite a mantra, reciting mantras after wipings was something she had done since her first one. Her mother used to help her with them. 

“I’m called Babydoll, I’m… twel— fourt— I’m not an adult yet. There are two people at HYDRA I trust. Jamie who is still alive. My mother who is dead. They killed her in front of me when I was seven. Her name is Elise Lanns… Elise… my middle name? I’m called Babydoll Elise, I’m not an adult yet. There are two people at HYDRA I trust. Jamie and Elise. Elise Lanns is my mother. She was taken by HYDRA and forced to have a child with… not with, from Captain America. His real name is…” 

Sarah looked around aimlessly as if someone would magically appear to help her. She knew he was Captain America. That was the one bit of information HYDRA had given her and her mother, because she needed to know why Sarah was so important to them. So strong. 

“His real name is… Fuck!” Sarah pulled a straight face all of a sudden. “Language… he used to tell me to watch my— I know him. Captain America’s real name is… his real name is… name…”

She couldn’t speak anymore as the tears flowed. Guards, led by Rumlow, came into the room. 

“Up. We’re moving out.”


	9. Chapter 9

The sun was up when Sarah opened her eyes. The doors to her cell would open in fifteen minutes. It was clockwork. She changed out of the plain pajamas into plain clothes. A dark blue t-shirt and shorts. At least she thought they were dark blue. Her hearing aids were still gone, they didn’t get her new ones. Sarah finished brushing her teeth and looked at her curls— she had taken out the braids when the new growth at the top came in. They only gave her water with basic shampoo and conditioner but she learned to make it work. Sarah stared at yourself in the mirror, gently tugging at a honey blonde curl that landed in front of her face. 

“My name is Sarah Elise Rogers, I’m… not an adult yet. My mother is Elise Lanns and my father is Steven Grant Rogers. I don’t know what either of them look like now. My mom was a graduate student and my dad was, is Captain America. From Brooklyn and Wales? I have blonde hair like him. And his super soldier abilities. I’m a genius like my mother. They killed her when I was seven. I have diamond skin. That’s from neither of them but from HYDRA. They are the bad guys. I trust one person at HYDRA, Jamie. I have an Uncle Nat? And Aunt Clint? Clint is married and I have two cousins named… I have two cousins. They’re going to wipe me today, like they do everyday after breakfast. I will remember this,” Sarah whispered the last bit as she clutched the sink. 

Like it always did, the door opened and she stepped out. There were no guards in this area, there never were because it wasn’t necessary. Sarah was the only potential deviant. She walked the hallways stopping at Pietro’s room first. He raced over to meet her, almost knocking her over with his speed. She rolled her eyes and continued walking till they both approached Wanda’s room. 

The twins were always smiling at each other. They were always smiling at Sarah too, which she returned wanting to have at least two people not be cruel. They took her under their wing as part of their family. She accepted despite wanting to yell how they volunteered to be experiments, she never had a choice from the day she was conceived. 

Breakfast was dull and Sarah left the twins to go get wiped. She had stopped fighting it. It was easier to do as they wanted, kill who they wanted and then not remember. They tended not to make the wipings as bad when she did that. She sat down and placed the mouth guard in her mouth. For a few hours she wouldn’t remember anything. She'd be 001. But before she went to bed she would remember Sarah Elise Rogers. She had to. 

* * *

Tony’s Iron Man suit ran into the forcefield of the hideout. 

“Shit!”

“Language!” Steve yelled as his motorcycle zipped between trees. “JARVIS, what’s the view from upstairs?” 

“The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker’s technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we’ve taken.”

“Language?” Tony questioned. 

“Leave it alone, Stark,” Nat said as she took down a man. 

Thor took out as many soldiers as he could. “Loki’s scepter must be here. Strucker couldn’t build this defense without it.” 

“No wait a second. No one else gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said ‘language’?”

“I know… just slipped out.” 

Steve’s voice was tense. Something about the tone telling Tony that he actually should drop it. They fought their way to Loki’s scepter and returned to the quinjet. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been rebuilt, right now it was just the Avengers but they were slowly recreating every part of it. It was taking time as the vetting process was now extremely crucial. Not many people knew Nick was currently alive— that information still too sensitive. 

The quinjet pulled into the Avengers Tower in Manhattan, the current home while Tony insisted on creating a huge compound for S.H.I.E.L.D. They rushed Clint down to medical with DR. Cho while Maria came aboard to talk to them about the two Enhanced twins they saw out on the field. 

* * *

Just because her skin was diamond, shit still hurt. Sarah couldn’t be cut with just any blade and it took a lot to stab her skin. Most things just bounced off but she could still feel it. The man who punched her between her eyes was confirmation of that. HYDRA had made it so points of impact would harden up when touched by a weapon. The skin around it would still bruise or absorb the shocks of pain. 

Sarah pushed through the pain and slammed the man down before throwing him up into the ceiling. He groaned before she grabbed his neck and pulled her arms in two different directions, the man falling dead to the ground. She turned his body over to pull the keys from his back pocket and unlocked the door, grabbing the weird piece of tech that HYDRA wanted. Sarah returned to the van and gave her handler the tech before settling into her seat. They let her eat before she had to go to training. She found Wanda and Pietro already at the table. 

“She took out Tony Stark,” Pietro said, very smug as Sarah sat down. 

“Tony Stark?” 

That name sounded familiar. Pietro said something but Sarah wasn't looking and he was too quiet. He knocked on the table until Sarah looked up— even the twins had learned quickly that if they were too quiet, they’d have to get her attention before speaking so she could read lips. 

“Tony Stark. Iron Man, you really don’t know? She really doesn’t know. The man whose weapons were used to destroy our home. The arms dealer who tried to turn his back on all the wrong he did before his change of heart, as if he has one.” 

“He looked like he was going to die.” Wanda extended her fingers towards Sarah, the red power dripping from her fingertips. 

Sarah swatted it away, making the twins laugh. 

“Keep that away from me.”

“001, mission report?”

“Not nearly as entertaining.”

“You never like to share. You’ll forget it in the morning anyway.”

“Snapped a man’s neck today.”

Pietro leaned in. “You always get the kills. Does it feel weird? Ending someone?”

“I don’t know… can never remember.” 

The guard yelled for Sarah to go start training. 

“Hey, Doll!” Pietro yelled as loud as possible. “Think fast!”

Pietro threw the butter knife and as it got close knocked twice on the ground for Sarah to feel the vibration— she had gotten better at that, using vibrations to make up for what she couldn’t hear. On the second knock, she turned and caught the knife. 

“I’m not your doll, Pietro.”

He laughed as Sarah dropped the knife and followed the guard out of the room. They left her alone in the training room. They tended to leave her alone a lot more now. Sarah punched the bag until she felt like her feet and hands were going to fall off. Her foot connected with the bag once more. 

**_“How’s that… too loud?”_ **

Sarah almost fell back as the memory appeared. The face was blurry but the voice was clear as crystal. Her fingers reached up to her left ear, a ghost of a touch. 

“Tony Stark?” Sarah whispered softly. 

She went back to punching the bag with determination, hoping maybe another memory would appear.

* * *

Tony Stark’s parties were always loud. Saturday’s party was no exception. It was a farewell party for Thor who was returning to Asgard for a brief amount of time and a celebration of Tony and Bruce slowly cracking Loki’s scepter in an attempt to create Ultron. Ultron was going to be a protection around the world, a way to stop aliens after one too many encounters with Earth. Tony wanted the only threat to people to be from other people— that was something the Avengers could solve. Something a rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D. could solve. 

The Avengers were mingling with the guests— all very distinguished people, or rich, including the prince of Wakanda who Tony was honestly surprised actually came. It was more like a secret UN meeting. Only with more drinking and lots of secrets that would be kept hidden from public view in the morning. Steve was nursing a whiskey at the bar, he wasn’t in the mood for all the festivities. Thor came up and handed him a flask of Asgardian mead, guaranteeing it would get him drunk. Tony appeared out of nowhere and clapped Steve on the back. 

“I know this is a sensitive time.”

“Sam and Bucky are looking for her. I should be out there.”

“You can’t be everywhere at once. The world still needs you, buddy.”

“Yeah… Sarah needed me too.” 

Steve shot down the mead and went to find Thor for another one. Sam and Bucky had come back and gave Steve a shake of their head. Sam sat down while Bucky went to chase down Thor after getting a sip of Steve’s drink. 

“From what Tony said when we came through the door, sounded like one hell of a fight.”

“Wasn’t supposed to be. If we had known, I would’ve called you two.”

“Don’t sweat it. That metalhead and I are perfectly happy chasing cold leads on our missing person.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Steve, we’re gonna find her.”

Sam sounded so sure but Steve could only muster a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Sam reached over and grabbed Steve’s drink from his hands much to the super-soldier’s protest. He wiggled his eyebrows before bringing the drink to his lips. Sam took a sip and scrunched his face up causing Steve to laugh for the first time that night as he took the cup back. 

It was a back and forth dance between the two and they knew it. They would never say anything, not until you were home, but they knew something existed between them. It took Steve longer to come to terms. It was another thing he was taught to push down in the 40s and then he met Peggy and it became bearable because she didn’t have to know he also liked men, just that he liked her. 

“That’s death in liquid form, how the hell are you still standing upright?”

Steve leaned in close but didn’t move to close any gap. He just smirked as he threw the drink back. 

“You found a place in Brooklyn yet?” Sam asked once he recovered. 

“Don’t know if I can afford Brooklyn.”

“Isn’t everyone on Tony’s payroll?”

Steve laughed. “Guess I was trying not to go to Tony for this one. I saw a couple places, I think Sarah would like them.”

“If she’s anything like my niece, just give her the biggest room and she’ll be happy.” 

Tony cleared most of the guests out so it was just the Avengers. Steve had loosened up thanks to the mead and was now sitting smushed between Sam and Bucky on the floor since Clint took the whole couch while they debated on lifting Thor’s hammer. 

“It’s a trick,” Clint insisted. 

Thor reached out a hand and Clint stood up. They all laughed as he couldn’t even make it move. Tony also failed. Even with the suit… and Rhodey… and Rhodey in the suit. Bruce failed. And Steve felt it shift but panicked and it got heavy again, much to Thor’s relief. 

“So, it’s rigged,” Tony stated as if it were a fact.

“You bet your ass,” Clint said.

Maria pointed at him. “Steve, he said a bad language word.” 

Steve rolled his eyes and looked at Tony knowing he was the source. Tony just held up his hands in a weak defense. 

“You tell everyone about that?”

“It’s fingerprints. I bet that it’s, the literal translation is having Thor’s fingerprints,” Tony evaded the question. 

“That’s an interesting theory,” Thor said before lifting up the hammer. “But here’s a simpler one, you’re all not worthy.” 

A high-pitched whirring made them all clutch their ears. They turned as they saw a weak looking robot made from various parts of Tony’s suits come in, Ultron. The robot started repeating Stark’s words and they slowly got up as more robots came at them. They defeated the robots and the initial body that Ultron was in but the song that rang throughout the tower shook them to their core. 

“I had strings, but now I’m free…”


	10. Chapter 10

“There are no strings on me,” Sarah muttered under her breath as she sat back in the chair for wiping-- her second one of the day but necessary because of the previous mission. 

The twins weren’t at breakfast, they weren’t at lunch either. They must’ve been on some mission because now it was night and she hadn’t seen them all day.

“What’s that?” one of the scientists, Marco, asked. 

Sarah liked Marco. He wasn’t trustworthy but he was nice enough. Nice enough that she could reveal little things to him. 

“It’s a song. From Pinnochio.”

“Pinnochio? The children’s movie?”

**_Sarah had forced Steve… she finally remembered his face. She had forced him to listen to the song multiple times. She remembered her hair still being very low, almost like a buzz. It was early into living with him, maybe only a couple months? He looked at her in exasperation as she grabbed the remote. Looking him dead in the eye, Sarah rewinded the video forcing the song to play again._ **

**_“Babydoll?” Steve whined._ **

**_“It’s from the 40s.”_ **

**_“This wasn’t the music I was talking about.”_ **

**_Sarah ignored him and hummed along. Steve sighed and got up off of the couch. He pushed the coffee table aside and bowed low._ **

**_“I suppose we can still dance to this. Care to humor your old man?”_ **

**_Sarah pretended to think about it before rewinding the song to the beginning. Sarah had asked Steve more about his time and the dancing intrigued her so he promised to show her a thing or two when she finally gave in to listening to his old records. This wasn’t the compromise he intended but she knew she would win out sooner or later. Steve was such a sucker for her. And because she was a daddy’s girl, Sarah stood up and grabbed his hand._ **

**_“That’s my best girl, put your other hand on my shoulder… you can stand on my feet.”_ **

**_She did to reach Steve’s height as he danced for the both of them. He eventually gave in and started singing with Sarah and the track._ **

“I must’ve heard it in the Red Room. I think I liked that song.” 

“I’ll try not to wipe it, 001. Open.”

Sarah took the mouth guard but didn’t slip it in. 

“Where are the twins?”

“Strucker died, don’t exactly know where they are now. Heard something about a claw and Ultron before they left. The mouth guard.” 

She nodded and sat back, trying not to scream as the electricity pulsed through her. She was alone again. 

* * *

Clint’s farm was a necessary retreat. It was the only off the grid place they knew they’d be safe. The rest of the Avengers were surprised at this— Tony even going so far to say it was all a decoy at first. They were even more surprised as the two children jumped into Steve and Nat’s arms. 

“Aunt Nat! Uncle Steve!” 

“Hey kiddos.”

“Have you found Sarah yet?”

Steve set Cooper down. The room got quiet. Steve looked around and noticed the large wood pile outside the kitchen window. 

“Laura, do you need that cut?”

Before she could answer, Steve walked outside muttering that he would get it done for them. Laura patted Cooper’s head, assuring him that he didn’t say anything wrong. That it was just sensitive for Steve. He only wanted to focus on stopping Ultron. 

It wasn’t easy to compartmentalize but he had to. So he let Sam and Bucky focus on you because the world needed their Captain. The wood split in half under his bare hands as he tried and failed to push down thoughts. He stayed out there, chopping wood, until Thor and Tony called him talking about a plan.

* * *

“Think fast!” 

The two knocks vibrated through the floor and up through Sarah's feet. Her hand automatically shot up and she caught the knife, turning her head to see Pietro. He was a welcome sight considering she hadn’t seen them in weeks or maybe it was just days? Time was still a concept Sarah didn’t have much of at the moment. 

Pietro walked over and grabbed her hand as he started to walk out of the training room, saying something but it was too fast and too quiet. Sarah pulled away and he looked at her in confusion. 

“Too fast, too quiet.” She pointed to her ear. 

“We don’t have time, Doll.”

“Not your doll.”

“Ultron’s going to kill everyone and we need you.”

“You finally figure out HYDRA’s bad?”

“Not the time.”

Before she could protest, Pietro scooped Sarah up and ran. She could hear the screaming of people on the streets of Sokovia when Pietro finally set her down. And judging by how loud it was in her ear, the screaming was plenty. 

“We need to evacuate the city,” Pietro said as they watched it slowly start to lift from the actual Earth. 

“You knock out the robots, I’ll move the people,” Sarah said and ran off. 

It was hard when she didn’t speak the language of Sokovia and couldn’t really hear anything besides screams. But people seemed to trust her. Or trust her enough to let Sarah direct them. She ran towards a bridge, seeing a car tip dangerously over it. Sarah went to grab it and pull it up as the poor woman inside screamed. The car was almost on the bridge again when the back bumper separated from the rest of the car and it fell. Sarah looked down in horror but soon saw a man in a large cape racing towards the car. 

“There’s another Enhanced in the field,” Thor said. 

“What?!” Clint asked, not believing what he was hearing over the comms. 

“Are they helping or on Ultron’s side?” Steve questioned as he took out a robot. 

Thor looked up from where Sarah was watching him and the car plummet. He grabbed the woman’s hand and nodded at Sarah, Sarah nodding back. Thor flung the woman up and Sarah jumped over the bridge, holding onto to the edge as Sarah grabbed the woman. It wasn’t going to be careful but she threw her up and over as gently as she could. Sarah grunted as she pulled herself back up but when she did, she saw the woman running off to a safer spot. 

“Helping, I think,” Thor said, he didn't recognize Sarah having only seen her once when she was twelve for less than thirty minutes. 

“We deal with it later, then. Stopping Ultron is our only focus.”

“Understood, Captain.” 

Sarah saw carriers and directed people, punching out any robots in her way. Something sounded destructive from the center of the city but there was no time to process. She was satisfied that people were safe as she damn near threw a man onto the carrier that was pulling away. The air was getting thinner. 

The other Avengers made their way to the carriers like Steve said before they started to turn around. He was going to sweep for stragglers. That’s what he said. It was a suicide mission and they knew it. Because if he couldn’t get to the carriers in time, he was as good as dead when the city either floated into space or dropped to the ground. Steve looked at them like they were insane. 

“We’re not leaving you Rogers,” Nat said when they heard a scream. 

It sounded like a child. They located the boy and could see a robot aiming at him. Steve ran, fatherly instincts kicking in and grabbed the kid shielding him and braced for impact hoping the kid would survive. But the bullets never came. He looked up to see Sarah watching him, slightly leaning and swaying on her feet. And then Steve saw all the bullets at her feet and the cracks on her skin start to close up. 

“Sarah?” 

Clint scooped the boy up from Steve’s arm as Steve ran to where Sarah had dropped. 

“Fuck, that hurt… I know, I know. Language.” 

Sarah had cut him off when his mouth opened to say something. Steve clutched her face in both of his hands as he laughed half-heartedly, tears forming at his eyes. He helped her stand up as Tony had finally gotten a grip on the city, slowly lowering it back to the ground. Sarah and Steve were jostled as the city dropped the final few feet back into its original place. The carriers were lowered back to the ground as people staggered out.

“Put in a call to start cleaning the city up,” Tony said to Rhodey.

“On it.”

The rest of the Avengers watched Steve walk back with a girl tucked underneath his shoulder. Clint and Nat were the first to run to Sarah, hugging her tight. No one else said anything as Steve escorted her into the quinjet. 

“Steve’s kid?” Rhodey asked, having never seen her before.

“Yeah.” Nat pushed past and sat on the other side of Sarah, daring anyone to say the wrong thing as the jet started off and back towards the newly finished compound. 

Sarah didn’t look up for a while. Tony was the first to notice the hearing aids he made for her were missing. That she had never been given new ones and he made a mental note to fit her immediately when the jet landed. Sarah finally looked up and turned to face her dad, the only face she could remember. 

“How old am I?”

“Fifteen. We just passed your fifteenth birthday three days ago.” 

“Oh.”

The rest of the team watched in awkward silence as Sarah looked confused. They could see the evident pain in Steve’s face when he realized he couldn’t read her any more. She looked around at everybody and then at the seat she had been placed in. It was large enough that she could sit cross-legged. And Sarah discovered it swiveled. She turned the whole chair to face Steve and folded up her legs. 

“My name is Sarah Elise Rogers. Yes or no?” 

Steve was stunned by the question, so was the rest of the team. Sarah looked at her dad in desperation. She had thought she was thirteen. If she couldn’t get an age right, what else was she wrong about. She needed real answers.

“My name is Sarah Elise Rogers. Yes or no?” 

“Yes.” 

“I’m fifteen years old?”

“Yes.”

“My mother is Elise Lanns, a graduate student, and my father is Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America. You.”

“Yeah, Babydoll.”

Sarah faltered for a moment. Pizza, there was pizza when he called her that the first time. And a couch? Steve’s apartment. That’s when… but where was the apartment?

“We live in DC?” Sarah asked hesitantly. 

“We did.”

“But you’re from Brooklyn and Wales.”

It was then they all knew what was going on. Everyone knew by now Steve’s family was Irish. Sarah wasn't asking questions as some interrogation about them, making sure they were the good guys. She was asking questions because she didn’t remember. They hadn’t realized it because it wasn’t what Bucky did. Instead, he would write it down or look it up and only when someone corrected him would he maybe ask a question. 

“Ireland. I’m from Brooklyn and we’re Irish.”

“I have an Uncle Nat?”

“Aunt, Aunty Nat.”

Sarah turned the chair to face who she assumed were Clint and Nat since they sat closest to her, studying their faces. Nothing. She knew they cared about her but she got nothing, no memories. Sarah pointed at each of them.

“Auntie Nat? Uncle Clint?”

They both nodded. Sarah looked at Clint.

“You have a wife and two children. What are their names?”

“Laura’s my wife. I have a son, Cooper, and my daughter, Lila.” 

“I think I liked them. I’m the oldest, right?”

“Older than Coop by two years,” Clint said with a smile on his face. At least she remembered she had his family. 

Sarah nodded absentmindedly and turned the chair back to Steve. 

“I have your blonde hair and super soldier abilities.” Sarah continued after Steve nodded. “I’m a genius like my mother… they killed her when I was seven?”

“They did.”

“My diamond skin. It’s not from you or her but HYDRA?”

“Diamond skin?” 

Steve’s question gave Sarah enough answers. She ignored it and moved on, knowing they’d want to come back to it at some point. But that wasn’t her focus or problem.

“HYDRA are the bad guys. There’s only one person I trust there, Jamie.”

“The man with the metal arm?”

“You know him?”

“I… you’ll see him soon. Any other questions, Babydoll?”

“…no… they wipe me every morning. That’s why I can’t remember,” Sarah whispered the confession.

Bruce spoke up at that. “Every morning?”

“They do it after she leaves breakfast,” Wanda piped up from where she and Pietro were sitting.

“Is that necessary? Bucky said they only wiped him if he started asking too many questions.”

“It kept me docile.”

“I know you don’t remember me but I am so sorry,” Bruce said and Sarah nodded in acknowledgment.

“Babydoll, diamond skin?” Steve asked carefully, worried about pushing boundaries. 

Sarah met his eyes before looking away all together. Since she wasn't looking at anyone and they weren’t about to scream in the contained quinjet, no one knew what to do next. Pietro spoke up.

“Her skin hardens at points of impact. She feels pain but it’s almost impossible to actually pierce her skin. Watch. Doll! Think fast.” 

Pietro knocked twice on the quinjet floor when he saw Sarah had uncrossed her legs and planted her feet again. He purposely knocked deliberately later than when he threw Clint’s arrow so she would only have time to hold up a hand but not grab it. Sarah turned and held her palm up, the arrow hitting and falling to the ground. She looked at Pietro.

“I’m not your doll. And ow.”

“That didn’t even hurt you.”

“It could’ve gone through my hand.”

That made her and the twins laugh until their sides were sore. It might’ve been over a dark topic but Steve’s mouth automatically pulled into a smile when he heard her laughter. The quinjet landed at the compound and everyone looked in awe.

“Yeah I know. It’s incredible, go figure. First things first we have a new A.I. Unit. Since JARVIS is now a part of Vis, everyone meet FRIDAY,” Tony said as he exited the jet first.

Steve placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder and guided her out. Tony continued his speech as he gave a tour of the compound. Sarah was mainly looking around because Tony wasn’t speaking very loudly and would constantly turn around so she couldn’t see his lips.

“Uncle Tony!” Sarah called once they all reached he and Bruce’s new lab. 

That made the man stop in his tracks. 

“Yeah, Sarah?”

“You made my hearing aids? Yes or no?”

“Yeah, kid. And the minute the tour’s over, you come back down and we’ll get you new ones. You still like green?”

Sarah nodded. Tony needed a minute to recover from being called uncle before he continued the tour. They all did. But Sarah didn’t see why, these were her dad’s friends. His family. So they must’ve been her family too. 

“And the residential floors. Only Avengers on property after hours, all S.H.I.E.L.D. goes home, but I figured we’d have additions to the team so from here up is all residential. Common room in the middle. Dorm style beneath the common area. Family style above.”

“The difference?” Clint asked.

“Family style have their own living room and kitchen. But rest assured each room dorm style is the size of an apartment. We don’t skimp.”

“Oh good to know.”

“Pepper and I stay on the upper most apartment. Pool is at the very top along with a bar. Everyone go pick your places. Just claim a room and tell FRIDAY.”

“I think I’ll just get a room. Leave Laura and the kids on the farm, feels safer,” Clint said as he headed towards the elevators. 

“Capsicle? Sarah, you need a nickname, kid.”

“Babydoll’s already mine for her, don’t even think about it. Is there a family style with four rooms?”

“Four? I mean yes but four? You, Sarah? I’m assuming you’re adding the Manchurian Candidate… that’s three.” Tony held up three fingers as if Steve couldn’t count. 

Steve scratched the back of his head before sighing and giving up. “Sam.”

“Wilson? I didn’t know you…”

“Yeah, we didn’t talk about it much in the 40s. Is there one with four rooms?” 

Steve cut Tony off. He still wasn’t very comfortable talking about it, everyone’s claims of the 21st century be damned. 

“Yeah, the third and fourth ones.”

Steve turned Sarah around to see him.

_Which one?_

_Four of us. Fourth floor._

“We’ll take the fourth floor,” Steve said and the two started to walk towards the elevator, leaving the others stunned at Steve’s semi-confession.


	11. Chapter 11

Sam and Bucky rushed back the minute Steve called. They were relieved because their latest lead included something called an Ant-man and after meeting the guy they knew he was of no help. The apartment was massive when they entered late at night. Steve showed them around and let them pick their rooms, like Sam suggested Sarah took the biggest room— kicking Steve out of the master bedroom. She was already asleep so they decided to just say hi in the morning.

Sarah didn’t put her new hearing aids in when she got up to get water in the middle of the night. While she figured that they would probably spend more time in the common room than anything, she was glad to have her own kitchen for moments like this. Sarah shuffled to the kitchen in one of Steve’s too big shirts and socks, having not much of her own currently. Aside from the small box of her stuff that he took when he moved into the Tower, it was too painful for Steve to keep a lot of Sarah's things physically in the house. He had to get what wasn’t damaged in DC out from storage which was his plan to do first thing tomorrow. She didn’t even have a bonnet, stealing one of Tony’s fancy scarfs as a headscarf— not that the billionaire really minded. 

Sarah reached up for a cup of water when she felt the footsteps. They were heavy and off balance, one side stepping harder than the other producing a heavier vibration. Not her dad. Sarah grabbed for the knife in the little knife rack on the counter and threw it. 

“Woah.” Bucky’s eyes went wide as he grabbed the knife in his metal hand before it had hit him.

Sarah gasped in surprise and ran to hug him. 

“Hey, kid,” Bucky said as he held the back of her head.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you we—”

“No harm, no foul. Wasn’t trying to sneak up on you, just got thirsty.” 

Sarah and Bucky got their waters and sat down on the couch. Sarah held the cup up to her face, not stopping her drinking, when Bucky turned his head to look at her. He was analyzing her and Sarah knew it. She could always tell when he was doing it. Bucky took the cup from her and moved her head around as if he were looking for any injuries.

“Why did you get up for water?”

“I just got thirsty.”

“You still lick your top lip when you lie.”

Sarah looked down. One to try and find a better answer and two because she couldn’t see what Bucky was saying if she wasn't looking. He turned Sarah's face towards him again. 

“How many times did they wipe you?”

“Every morning,” Sarah confessed. 

Bucky’s metal fist clenched at his side. He was hoping Sarah getting up was because she actually just needed water. It was the same thing he did when a nightmare of being wiped appeared. It felt like a dry burning in your mouth that could only be subdued by cold water. But he was less worried about the wiping and more about the implications. They wiped Sarah every few months to keep her scared when he was under their control. Wiping every morning? They wanted her to forget things, things she did. And Bucky was worried that she would eventually remember and it would drive her insane like it was threatening to do to him. 

“I’m tired, Uncle Jamie.”

Uncle? That was new. He didn’t know that Sarah was already aware of his connection to Steve. Well at least that wasn’t something they’d have to go over later. It felt weird. Jamie, James. Being called anything other than Barnes or Bucky. He couldn’t even remember when he had become cognizant enough once to tell Sarah his first name. It wasn’t much but she had stuck to it. 

“Okay, little doll. I won’t keep you up. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Okay.” 

Sarah strolled in later at a more reasonable time of morning seeing the others already gathered in the kitchen. 

“Good morning,” Sam, Steve, and Bucky said at the same time.

“Morning…” Sarah remembered the question she had been meaning to ask yesterday. “Uncle Jamie, why does Uncle Tony call you the Manchurian Candidate?”

Bucky rolled his eyes while the other two men laughed. He set down a cup of orange juice for Sarah.

“Because your Uncle Tony’s a dick.”

“Woah, Buck, language!” Steve didn’t miss a beat.

Sarah laughed when Bucky winked at her before giving Steve a weak apology. She took a sip of the orange juice when Sam came around with two plates. He sat down and pushed one towards hers while Steve and Bucky loaded up theirs— the two 100% super soldiers of the house insatiable. 

“Thanks Un— Sa— thank you.”

The three men looked at each other.

“Should we ask?” Steve looked at Sarah. 

_You and him?_ she asked. 

Sam sat back, not understanding the silent communication taking place between you and Steve, while Bucky didn't care enough to pay attention and kept eating.

_Yes?_

_Together?_

_Kind of._

_Kind of?_

_We haven’t talked… this is adult stuff, I don’t need to discuss this with you._

_Together?_

Steve sighed. _Yes._

_Then I can’t call him uncle… weird._

Steve laughed. “Okay, Babydoll. Fair enough.”

Sam looked over but Steve shook his head.

“Nothing bad. I promise you.” 

Most of the breakfast conversation was taken up by the three adults. Sarah didn’t have much to share from the past year— and there wasn’t much she wanted to share. She laughed here and there but mainly just looked out the window as they talked about some mission that Bucky missed out on. It had gone sour before it really started, their one lead missing.

“What was his name?” Bucky asked.

“Torren. What the hell kind of name was that?” Sam asked, making them laugh.

Steve caught it first and then Bucky picked up on it immediately after. Sarah's breathing had gone shallow as she looked out the window. Steve knocked on the table causing the fork to drop from her hand. She jumped when she heard it hit the ground. 

“Sarah?” Steve asked.

She finally tore her gaze away from the window and looked at the three concerned faces in front of her. 

“I killed him,” Sarah whispered. 

The girl suddenly stood up from the table and ran to her bathroom. Steve shot up after her, Bucky and Sam slowly behind thinking it’d be best to give the two space but wanting to make sure everything was okay. Steve could hear the running water of the sink and her muttering before he got close. 

“I killed him, I killed him, I killed him…”

Sarah muttered over and over again as she scrubbed at her hands. The blurry memory was playing in her head. He wasn’t much of a fighter, grabbing his neck and snapping it was easy. She had taken out his security guard and pulled him from out of the car still parked in the parking garage. She had just left him there on the ground. His kill was technically clean, after the first three times Sarah discovered she liked to snap necks more. 

It was easier to forget with less blood, the wipings weren’t as harsh when there was no blood. But the guard was too big for her to effectively wrap her hands around so Sarah had to slit his throat. And now she could see that blood on her hands and a dead Torren at her feet, neither image leaving no matter how hard she scrubbed. They watched Sarah switch back and forth from the soap pump to the steady stream of water.

“Sarah!” Steve called but she kept muttering. “Sarah, Sarah!”

He walked over and pulled her away from the faucet and to him towards the ground. Steve rocked back and forth, cradling her head and trying to shush her. The tears on Sarah's face didn’t register to her as she kept muttering ‘I killed him’ like they were the only words she knew. 

Sam called Dr. Cho up and Sarah was given medicine to knock her out. Steve had taken her to the common room couch, needing to be close in case she woke up again while the rest of the team talked. Everyone had gathered in the living room, Steve sitting on the floor in front of the couch. They turned to Bucky who seemed to have the most experience with anything HYDRA related out of them all, even if he couldn’t remember some chunks of it.

“If she can remember that even with daily wiping, she’ll remember everything eventually.”

“How could they do that?” Thor asked, looking over to where Sarah was. Even in sleep she didn’t seem at rest.

Bucky sighed. He felt Sarah might not have wanted to talk about it but he didn’t have a choice now. 

“Do you know why I call her little doll?”

“Doll, it’s 40s slang,” Tony said. “Like Steve calling her babydoll.” 

“I wish. I didn’t remember it was from the 40s. I called her that because doll was the guards’ nickname for her. Everyone called her 001 to her face but doll behind her back. Because she was easy to break like a porcelain doll. She was everything HYDRA wanted but emotional, moral…”

“Still somebody,” Nat finished for him, remembering the Red Room motto. 

“So they broke her down almost every day in hopes that it would either harden her to be someone like me or that she wouldn’t be able to fix herself again and they would rebuild her. That’s when they killed Elise and it still didn’t work.” 

“Did you know about the diamond skin?” Steve asked. 

He wasn’t sure if it was a new development or it just wasn’t in her file. It wasn’t like he had ever thought that would be something he needed to test for.

“Third birthday present. She’s been designed since birth to be the perfect weapon. After they killed Elise they brainwashed Sarah, same trigger words as me. It was the only way to get her to do anything, but it never lasted long and they’d have to wipe her otherwise she’d remember and stop functioning.” 

“Why does she not stay a soldier as long as you?” Bruce was curious. 

That Bucky didn’t have an answer to. But Sarah did as she woke up. Steve felt the shift on the couch and turned to see Sarah had popped open an eye. 

“Hey, Babydoll,” he cooed. 

She sat up straight. 

“Because they did it in the wrong order.”

“Wrong order?”

“Diamond then brainwash, it should be the other way around. It’s not just my outer skin that can harden on impact. If they wanted the electrocutions to be fully effective they should’ve done it first… it’s just science,” Sarah whispered gently. 

That made Tony and Bruce smile at her. That’s right, she was a little scientist. Bruce had suggested to Tony that maybe they make her a tiny workstation and that’s what he spent all night doing. 

“Sarah?” Steve asked gently. “When Bucky says they tried to break you?”

Sarah hugged her knees. 

“It was the Red Room but worse. And because I couldn’t be cut, it went on for hours. I could only feel the pain but never be fully hurt, so they’d go till I passed out and then they woke me up and went again.” 

The Avengers got quiet. HYDRA was always a sensitive topic and one Sarah never liked to talk about. This was the most detail they had gotten from her ever. The twins were instantly by her side to the shock of the other Avengers. Sarah was their little sister, they couldn’t help it. Wanda put her hand in front of the girl, palm up, the red dancing at her fingertips. 

“Nothing recent, nothing from after I met you, please.”

Wanda nodded and touched Sarah's temple. Her eyes closed and her head rolled back. Wanda's other hand produced a large ball of red that she moved to the center of the room so the rest of the team could see what she was seeing. 

“Is it at all possible to see her? Place a timeline?” Clint asked. 

“It’s her memories, it’s in… Sarah, can you try to picture yourself?” 

Wanda moved her fingertips against the girl's temple a little more:

**Elise Lanns was kept in a surprisingly nice room. It was plain, only filled with books truly. But it was better than a prison cell. Elise strolled the room, reading the title of each book. She grabbed one and turned it back to a two year old Sarah with a very excited face, hair not yet long and still blonde.**

**“How about this one? Does that sound good, Babydoll?” She asked very loudly.**

**Elise walked back to the bed and pulled Sarah into her lap. Her chubby little fingers traced the letters that read out _Pride and Prejudice._**

* * *

**“Where’s my mom?” Sarah asked as she was pushed down the hall.**

**“You’ll see her after.”**

**Those were the only words the guards said while they escorted her down the hall, the concrete was cold against her bare feet. Sarah was led to a room and saw a bunch of scientists and a cake. She sat in the chair they gestured to and took the slice of cake.**

**“It’s your birthday,” the nurse said.**

**She took the fork and poked it into the cake before giving Sarah a bite. Sarah went for another when the cake was taken from her and she was pushed back into the chair. The straps tightened. Sarah watched the scientists pull out multiple syringes while the nurse hooked monitors to her. Sarah winced as the first syringe was poked into her skin. The first blade ran across her skin and she cried in pain as the drops of blood formed.**

**“Two more milliliters,” the scientist said before accepting another syringe.**

**It continued like that three more times until the fourth run produced a result they liked. Sarah cried but no blood appeared. They tested it again and each time she felt the cut but her skin looked like nothing even touched her. The straps were untied and Sarah was set on her feet, the guards sandwiching her as they led her back to the room.**

* * *

**Sarah looked in the mirror as her mom stood behind her with the large box of dye in her hands. She gingerly ran it over Sarah's head and she watched the honey blonde turn a patchy black.**

**“Why do I have to change it?”**

**“Because blonde hair on girls that look like you isn’t common. HYDRA wants you to blend in with all the other brown and black girls, be another face in the crowd.”**

**“Another face.”**

**“We call you Babydoll,” Elise started. “I’m your mom, Elise Lanns. Your father is Steve Grant Rogers. Captain America. You have his super soldier abilities and you’re a genius like me. HYDRA is bad, don’t forget that.”**

**“And Captain America?”**

**“He was lost a long time ago.”**

**“So he’s not coming to save us?”**

**“No. No one’s coming to save us. We’re all alone”**

**Elise turned Sarah around and bent down to look at her. She pulled at a now black curl.**

**_So pretty, my babydoll,_ Elise signed.**

* * *

**The metal arm was terrifying. It was all Sarah focused on as he came into the room with two guards. She was taken from breakfast with her mother and walked down the hall with them. The room she entered was bare except for all the mats on the floor. The man stood looking down at Sarah before turning to the guards.**

**“She’s a baby.”**

**“Has that stopped you before. She starts training now.”**

**Sarah couldn’t move from her spot. Even after they yelled at her, she wouldn’t move. The guard pushed her down and another grabbed her hand, taking out a knife and running it against Sarah's skin.**

**“Soldat. You take her back when the hour is over.”**

**Sarah looked at the floor in tears for what felt like forever. Bucky leaned down and grabbed her face roughly in his metal hand.**

**“Did you hear me?”**

**“I’m sorry. My right is worse than my left but— I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”**

**“Hey, stop crying, you’re fine okay. Don’t give them an excuse to hurt you. Let’s go.”**

**He stood back up and looked down at Sarah, deliberately speaking in a way for her to read his lips. She hit him like instructed. He laughed and she knew it was because she was weak.**

* * *

**Sarah smiled when she saw Bucky. He was the one good part of her day when she wasn't with her mother. It was after dinner and she quickly got up to follow him. Sarah was surprised when her mother was forced to follow with her. It wasn’t just the normal training room they went to. This one was packed with scientists and guards and other people, including other young girls. Some that Sarah recognized from her day visits to the Red Room. A pocket knife was put in her hands. She looked at it and looked at all the people in front of her.**

**“001, pick one of them.”**

**Sarah didn’t move.**

**“Soldat.”**

**He moved Sarah in front of a girl he knew she could take. The girl assumed a fighting stance but Sarah didn’t move.**

**“Can she not hear us?”**

**Bucky moved in front of Sarah. “He said to fight.”**

**“We don’t kill people,” Sarah whispered.**

**“What did I tell you, little doll?”**

**“Don’t give them a reason to hurt me.”**

**Bucky grabbed her shoulders, a move too parent-like. He knew it the minute he heard one of the scientists speak up again.**

**“Wipe him. He’s growing attached, showing emotion.”**

**The words triggered and Sarah saw no warmth in his eyes. He stood back up and pushed her roughly into the middle of the floor with the other girl. Sarah gripped the pocket knife tighter and timidly walked towards the girl. She hit Sarah first. She made one measly move but the girl pulled the pocket knife from her and tackled her to the floor. Sarah cried as she blocked her face while the girl stabbed and cut, growing more frustrated that she wasn’t making marks on. They pulled the girl off and escorted her and the rest of the girls away.**

**“Consequences, 001. You don’t comply, there will be consequences. Soldat.”**

**Sarah was turned to face her mother. Bucky’s arm grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off of the ground. Sarah scrambled to her before being pushed down.**

**“No! No, please, please, please.”**

**Sarah screamed as he adjusted his grip and brought up the metal arm to snap her neck. Her mother dropped to the floor. She couldn’t see past her own tears as they pulled her to her feet and took her back to the cell. Sarah crawled onto the bed, now too big and too empty.**

**“They call me 001. My mom calls me Babydoll. My mom was Elise Lanns. My dad was Steven Grant Rogers. HYDRA is bad… No one’s coming to save me. I’m all alone,” she whispered.**

**Clutching the pillow, Sarah rocked until she just passed out.**

* * *

**She was pushed into the room where the technicians were. And so was Bucky sitting in the chair. The panels on his arm were open.**

**“You think she knows what her mother does?”**

**“The bitch read her engineering manuals as a bedtime story.”**

**A toolbox was shoved into Sarah's hands and she was moved onto the stool next to Bucky’s metal arm. Bucky staring straight ahead the entire time. Sarah looked at the technician, unsure of what he wanted.**

**“Elise worked out the mechanisms, 001. The hand is stiff.”**

**She opened up the panel by his wrist and saw four wires. A red, green, and two she couldn’t distinguish. Sarah looked back at them.**

**“I can’t tell the difference between blue and purple.”**

**It was the simplest explanation and she didn’t feel like explaining more. They understood her well enough. They informed her what the purple wire was connected to and switched the covering for the blue one to a yellow covering. Sarah took out the smallest gears and replaced them before rewiring the red wire to a different connection point. As she closed the panels, Bucky finally looked over at her. When he made eye contact, Sarah felt a hitch in her throat and she ran— the guards laughing but not following because they all knew she was headed back to her room.**

**Sarah didn’t look up from the bed as she heard the footsteps come in. The cold metal on her knee made her flinch and she scooted all the back into the corner as much as she could. Bucky looked at her with a tilt of his head. Something flashed across his face.**

**“I hurt you?”**

**She didn’t say anything but looked at him with tears. Bucky reached out but Sarah shook her head fiercely. He pulled back.**

**“I’m sorry.”**

* * *

**Bucky came back with the guards and Sarah followed timidly. She was back in the room with more girls and another pocket knife was placed in her hand. Once again, she still couldn’t do it and allowed the other girl to try and beat her to a pulp.**

**“001. Consequences. Hold her down.”**

**Something in Bucky snapped. It was one thing if it was other children or anyone close to Sarah's age. But he wasn’t going to watch guards hold her while one pulled out a knife. Bucky had hit maybe two guards before the others trained their guns on him and multiple on Sarah.**

**“Move and we’ll shoot her in the same spot until she drops,” one of the guards yelled.**

**Bucky stopped.**

**“Wipe him.”**

**“No, wait,” the head scientist stood up. “Soldat, report to cryo. Touch anyone and we kill her.”**

**Bucky walked away and Sarah was ushered to her feet.**

**“We use her. It’s innate emotional attachment, we’ll never fully get rid of it. So we use it. He wants to protect her, Soldat will do whatever we say… however actions or inaction still have consequences, 001.”**

**Sarah cried as the first bullet hit her arm.**

* * *

**It had been days since she had seen anyone. And days since she had eaten. The door opened and Sarah set down the book. She was tense as Bucky walked in but didn’t cower. He set down her food and sat as far away as possible in the room.**

**_Hungry?_ he signed. **

**Sarah looked at him with a blank stare.**

**_They said you were American. ASL?_ **

**She nodded timidly.**

**_I’m sorry. I know I hurt you and I’m sorry._ **

* * *

**“James,” he said suddenly as soon as Sarah looked up from working on the metal arm.**

**The two of them were alone.**

**“What?”**

**“I think my name was James, once.”**

**“James,” Sarah said and then returned to working on the panels. “HYDRA hurt you? They made you hurt me?”**

**“I’m sorry, little doll. I can’t promise it won’t happen again. But I don’t want to hurt you.”**

**She looked back down at the panels.**

**“They call me 001, my mom called me Babydoll, you say little doll. My mother was Elise Lanns and my father was Steven Grant Rogers. HYDRA is bad and I won’t forget. No one’s coming to save me… but I’m not alone. There’s one person in HYDRA I trust, James.”**

* * *

**Sarah had finally done what they wanted as she stabbed the girl in the shoulder. She couldn’t end her though. And they couldn’t get Sarah to kill her as she started shaking when Sarah looked at the blood on her hand. Bucky growled as one of the guards approached her.**

**“We’ve seen enough. She can do it, 001 is just weak. Prep her to be wiped. Don’t think about moving, Soldat… I want her on the same triggers as him. They work as a team.”**

**Bucky and Sarah were on a mission. It wasn’t that hard to play the lost little girl role. She led the couple, leading scientists on a biomed case, into the alleyway— Bucky taking the man while Sarah killed the woman. The brainwash slipped away and Sarah looked at the bodies on the ground. Bucky clamped a hand over her mouth before she could scream.**

**“She doesn’t go on missions,” he said once he had led her to the technicians. “She’s scared and won’t make it.”**

**“Mission report?” the guard asked.**

**“We handled it. Did you not hear me? She doesn’t go on missions.”**

**“That’s not your call, Soldat. Prep them both. Wipe him just enough.”**

**Bucky had to be pushed into his chair, aggressively taking the mouth guard— almost biting off the scientist’s hand. Sarah opened her mouth timidly and they placed the mouth guard in for her. Both she and Bucky screamed around the guards.**

Wanda’s fingers left Sarah's temple. The Avengers looked around avoiding eye contact with the girl. 

“Sarah?” 

“May I be alone?” 

“Of course, Babydoll.” 

“Uncle Tony, you said the training room had a studio?”

“Off to the side.”

“Sarah.” Sam placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder when he saw her reach up for her hearing aids. 

“Don’t leave yourself in your head, okay? It’s worse when you shut off from the rest of the world.” 

“Okay,” she whispered before sneaking away.


	12. Chapter 12

Nat entered the studio, the blaring classical music indicating Sarah was in there. She saw the hearing aids on the floor by a water bottle and a pair of brown pointe shoes. She would’ve knocked on the floor like she saw Pietro do but she honestly wasn’t sure if Sarah would feel those vibrations over the ones from the speaker. So she waited until Sarah fiddled more with the music and finally turned around.

“Can I join you?” Nat held up a pair of ballet slippers.

Sarah nodded. 

“I haven’t done this in years, don’t make fun of me if I mess up.”

Her smile faltered a bit when Sarah didn’t laugh but she slipped on the shoes and started at the barre letting Sarah have full room on the floor. Nat liked from this vantage point she could watch over Sarah. She never saw herself coming back here but Natasha was protective of Sarah and after what they all saw she was willing to push aside her own discomfort for the young girl. 

Sarah didn’t tell her but she was grateful for the company even if it was silent. The entire first hour Nat didn’t try to talk to her, letting her process. Nat looked over when Sarah turned down the music. Sarah grabbed her pointe shoes and hearing aids. Sticking the aids back in, she walked over to Nat and began to put on the shoes and lace them up.

“Did they ever wipe you?” she asked.

“No, Sarah. They never did.” 

Nat helped her stand and they both began doing more barre exercises. When they were both facing the mirror, Nat looked at Sarah through her reflection.

“You’re not a bad person.”

“I know.”

“Then why can’t you look yourself in the face when you say it?”

“He wouldn’t even look at me,” Sarah whispered.

“Who… Steve? Sarah, honey, he wasn’t looking to stop from crying.”

Nat tried to reason but she wouldn’t see it. Sarah kept shaking her head over and over again. Nat watched her snake a hand up and turn off both aids before muttering sorry and running away. She returned to the other Avengers in the common area. 

“Girl talk wasn’t what she wanted, we should’ve just sent Steve first,” Nat said as she sat down.

“What happened?”

“We’re back to square one. She thinks you think she’s a monster… wait, Rogers, give her some space.”

Steve faltered for a moment before heading up to the apartment, he felt like he needed to see Sarah— that if he gave her space, it might fester into something worse. He couldn’t see her in the living room and didn’t hear any sound of movement. 

“Sarah? Sarah, Babydoll, it’s dad,” he called out but still no response. 

Steve leaned against the dining room table and started speaking loudly into the apartment, not sure if Sarah still had the hearing aids turned off or not. 

“What happened to you isn’t your fault. I’m sorry they did that to you. That you went through any of that and I wasn’t there to save you or your mother. But I don’t for one second blame you for anything you did or they made you do. It wasn’t your choice and it wasn’t you. Okay, Babydoll. I know my Sarah, you aren’t just what they made you.”

Steve almost didn’t hear her say bathroom. He had checked there already but went anyway, hoping his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. The bathroom was still empty until he heard a sniffle from the bathtub. Steve gently pulled back the curtain and saw Sarah sitting in the corner of the tub. He carefully climbed in and sat down, waiting for her to speak. 

“You don’t hate me?”

“I could never. Whatever you thought you saw, I didn’t once think you were a monster or horrible person. I just couldn’t believe they would ever do those things.” 

“Auntie Nat said I’m not a bad person.”

“Because you’re not.”

“But I don’t know if I believe her,” she whispered.

Steve got quiet. He could shield her from a lot of pain with the outside world but he couldn’t shelter Sarah from herself. And he knew in that moment nothing he said would change anything. 

“Will you be okay if I leave you for ten minutes? Just to go get us dinner?” 

She nodded but didn’t look up. 

“Dinner in a bathtub… first time for everything,” Steve muttered as he stood up, making Sarah laugh a little.

Steve awkwardly stumbled out of the tub and into the kitchen where he was surprised to see Sam— well, Sam’s back. The other man turned around with two noodle bowls and placed them in Steve’s hands. 

“She okay?” 

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m gonna set her up with the therapist as soon as possible. I feel like I’m failing her, Sam.” 

“Hey, don’t say that. It’s hard, yeah, but you’re doing the best you can. I don’t think anyone else is exactly in your situation.”

“How to raise a super-baby, too bad no one has a manual on that.”

Sam chuckled and hit him on the bicep. “Alright, go take care of your girl. I’ll be downstairs with everyone else.” 

“Thanks, babe.”

Steve went wide-eyed as his own words slipped out. They hadn’t talked and Steve was someone who liked to talk everything through before making a move. He was very much an overthinker in that way so to give Sam an affectionate pet name without discussing their relationship more was out of left field for him. Even though Steve's face was red, Sam took it in stride. He simply kissed Steve’s cheek and walked out, leaving the super-soldier to walk back to the bathroom and hand Sarah a bowl of noodles. 

Sarah had stretched out a little after accepting the noodles, so now Steve had to sit more on one side of the tub than the middle in order to stretch out his legs as well without hitting her. She made a face of confusion and looked down at the bowl in her hands. Steve watched her take another bite and make the same face. 

“What?”

“You didn’t make this,” Sarah said suspiciously. 

“Yeah, Sam made it for us.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t like it?”

“No… it’s better than your cooking.”

Steve looked at her with fake offense. “Really?”

“Salt’s not the only seasoning in the world, Dheaidí.”

Sarah tried to say it with a straight face before laughing. Steve couldn’t help himself but laugh with her, happy that she was smiling. It was going to take time for Sarah to get over the past year that she had been put through but in that moment Steve could see that it was still possible.

“Dheaidí?” Steve noted the sudden change from her saying dad to using the Irish word instead. 

“It’s Irish for—”

“No, I know, Babydoll. Just wondered what made you change.” 

“Because grandma’s Irish and you need a new name in ca…” Sarah ate another forkful of noodles. 

“Your hair’s so big now,” Steve commented, wanting to move to a softer topic for her sake after Sarah trailed off. 

“Yeah, it’s not the best I don’t think but it’s better than when I first came.” 

“It’s still blonde.” He remembered the black dye from when she was younger. 

Sarah nodded. “I like it this way.”

“I like it that way too.” 

_My pretty doll._ Steve signed.

Sarah rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. 

* * *

Bucky sent the other two men back to their room when they all ran out after hearing Sarah scream. It was a nightmare, he already knew it before even entering her room. How Sam and Steve got any sleep between Bucky’s nightmares and now apparently hers was still a huge question to him. Bucky knocked and waited for Sarah to say he could come in. He could see the sweat on her forehead as he sat at the edge of the bed. 

“You remembered something else didn’t you?” 

Bucky covered Sarah's hands with his when he saw her looking at them with the same stare from the other morning. She looked up at him. 

“They all knew who I was. She said my name before I killed them.” 

“Sarah, who? What’s going on in your head, little doll?”

“A girl my age. Her whole family.”

Bucky got up and extended a hand for her to grab. Sarah followed him to the kitchen where he put a kettle on the stove. Bucky listened to her recount the events of what happened while he made tea. She thanked him as he handed her the cup. 

“I find it helps me. Anything calming really. Tea, meditation, any hobby that lowers your heart rate. Natasha said you liked to dance.”

“That doesn’t really lower your heart rate.”

“But does it keep you calm?”

“Yeah.”

“Then stick with it. It gets easier, I promise you… you don’t ever really make peace with it but it gets easier.” 

Sarah looked at him like she didn’t believe him and Bucky couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t believe him too if he wasn’t experiencing it. The nightmares from when he first joined the Avengers were a lot more frequent, more violent, and louder than the ones now. He was positive they would get better for her— only he wasn’t sure when hers would slow down, Sarah was a child so everything was more intense. Sarah took another sip before setting the tea down and telling Bucky she'd be back. He looked confused when she came back with several packs of things he couldn’t identify. She spread out the masks and candles on the table that Pepper had bought her. 

Most of her life Sarah was with men and never got to really explore her feminine side that she discovered she really liked. So Pepper, Natasha, and all the other women of the compound were who Sarah quickly turned to and they were glad to fill in where Steve couldn’t, including self-care because Steve’s idea of it was to go harder in the training room. 

Bucky watched as she searched the kitchen drawers for a match and finally lit the candles once she found one. He realized that this is what it was like to raise a teenage girl and it was foreign to him. But he picked up a mask and followed Sarah's lead, anything that would calm her down and send her back to bed. 

“They make them for your feet?” 

Sarah laughed and continued with her face mask before grabbing a foot mask as well. Bucky didn’t like the feeling on his feet but kept it on. The two sat in silence, enjoying the aroma of the candles and just focusing on themselves. 

“…Dheaidí put me back in therapy.”

“You don’t sound excited about that.” 

“She told him that he shouldn’t let S.H.I.E.L.D. make me an Avenger. That I should be with other children.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“I don’t know anything else, Uncle Jamie.”

“Do you want me to talk to Steve about it? I’ll report back to you, the punk doesn’t have to know.” 

Bucky would always be her partner in crime… literally, back in the past. Sarah called him Uncle Jamie but he was more like an older sibling, potentially a second father figure— the two’s connection going back longer than hers with Steve. He would always care for both Sarah and Steve, even if that meant double-spying and planting ideas in both of their heads. Right now, it seemed he needed to be on Sarah's case more but he also recognized that maybe the therapist was right. 

“How about you consider it, little doll? Before Steve can even make a decision. Maybe pick where you want to go, it can’t be so bad if you pick it right?” 

Sarah shrugged and finished the tea. Maybe Bucky was right. She'd have to look for a certain school though. Skipping grades due to her smarts would defeat the purpose but Sarah didn’t want to be bored— not when it’s a place she'd have to be for a minimum eight hours a day.

The compound was quiet when Sarah woke up. There was a note on the fridge door signed by Sam, Steve, and Bucky saying most of them had been pulled for a mission— except for Tony. Steve had woken her up to tell her that but it was so early in the morning he wasn’t sure if she would remember so he left the note just in case. Sarah took special note of the time. He said four days. 

She already knew Tony would be in his lab so that’s where Sarah went. She knocked on the clear glass windows of the lab and Tony’s head popped up out of nowhere. He excitedly ran towards the door to open it for her. 

“I’ve been thinking about it… Cadet America… no? I’ll work on it, come on in, kid. Bruce and I have a surprise for you.”

Tony was very proud of the tiny workstation. And his ego inflated even more when he saw Sarah's eyes light up. Four more points on the board for Uncle Tony, he was determined to become her favorite Avenger— second to Steve of course. He pulled up a hologram for Sarah to see multiple files of blueprints. 

“Knock yourself out… G.I.!”

“What?”

“Like the G.I. Joe dolls, ties into the whole doll theme. It’s perfect. Captain, Sergeant, Falcon, G.I.”

“Why doesn’t Sam get a title?”

“Falcon. It’s the military project he was on, that is the title.” 

“You don’t call Uncle Jamie ‘Sergeant’.” 

“Okay, but that’s not important.”

“Uncle Jamie says you’re a dick.”

“Yeah, not the first time I’ve heard that, G.I.” 

Tony felt satisfied when Sarah just shrugged at his nickname instead of making a face like when he said Cadet America. She started flipping through the plans he had. Tony looked up from his own work when Sarah called his name. 

“Can I really make my own suit?” Sarah asked with a hint of doubt but mainly hopefulness. 

“Absolutely.” 

When he called, Steve was surprised to see Sarah not in her room. She was perched on top of her workstation— she didn’t like sitting down in the chair like Tony. Sarah looked very content as she tinkered, refusing to tell Steve what she was working on. Tony wouldn’t tell him either when he texted him. He just said it was a surprise and Steve would have to wait. 

“We’re coming back later today.” 

“Good… hey, Dheaidí?”

“Yes?”

“If I go to school, I could be an Avenger right?” 

“Is this really what you want to do, Sarah?” 

Sarah nodded. 

“Okay. School comes first but I don’t see why not… Clint, was that the right thing to do?” Steve forgot to mute his end before he asked. 

“I don’t know, my children don’t have superpowers.”

“Thanks for nothing… Babydoll… I didn’t mute the— forget you heard that.”

“Not gonna happen,” Tony called from his workstation. 

“Shut up, Tony! Sarah? We’ll look at schools when we get back.” 

“I already found one.”

“You did? One second. Sam, Buck!” 

The other two men of the household stepped into frame of the video call. 

“We might have to get a second apartment to make it easier. It’ll be nice to go back to Brooklyn.” 

“Brooklyn? Harlem’s where it’s at,” Sam said remembering his childhood home. 

“The school’s Midtown School of Science and Technology,” Sarah said quickly to stop any arguments. 

“See,” Sam said proudly. “Midtown. Harlem’s closer.” 

“Brooklyn wouldn’t be that far a drive though,” Steve was determined to counter

“Metal man? Pick one, Harlem or Brooklyn?” 

“It’s in Queens,” Sarah said. 

“Queens?!” All three men yelled. Bucky and Sam adamantly shook their hands. 

“I will personally drive you every morning, we’re not moving to Queens,” Steve said. “This really the school you want?”

“It’s very academic. Great science program, everyone there is really smart. I’ll feel…”

“Normal?”

“Yeah.” 

“Alright, Babydoll. Midtown School. We’ll get you signed up when I get back. See you soon.”

“Bye, Dheaidí… hey, Uncle Tony,” Sarah said when she hung up. 

“Yeah, kid?”

Sarah laughed as he ducked when she aimed the glove at him. Tony threatened to kick her out of the lab, stuttering when she turned off the hearing aids and went back to working on the gloves. He looked at her incredulously and when he realized Sarah wasn't going to look up again or turn the hearing aids back on, he went back to work. Sarah casted her eyes up just slightly to see he had gotten quiet and sneakily turned them back on to hear him muttering to himself about how Steve had the patience for parenting was beyond him.


	13. Chapter 13

Back to school shopping was a lot easier when school had already started. It qas only a couple weeks late from when Midtown started but they still enrolled Sarah anyway— of course, they weren’t going to turn down Captain America’s daughter. She had yet to actually go to the school but her first day and tour were all going to be rolled into one. Sam joined Sarah and Steve for shopping. 

“Sarah! Which one?” Sam called out from the end of the aisle, she and Steve looking at fancy stationary against the wall. He held up two backpacks for her to look at. 

“Isn’t that sweet,” a woman walking past said as she put some school supplies in her cart. “It’s so nice to see a father spending time with his daughter.”

“Oh, no, ma’am. No, she’s— ma’am she’s no—”

“Dad! I can’t tell the one on the right,” Sarah called to put Sam out of his blubbering misery. 

Both Sam and Steve faltered. Steve was red and if blush showed up on Sam, he was sure it would be there. Steve recovered before Sam. 

“Right one is light purple with blue flowers, Babydoll.”

At Steve’s nickname for her, the woman looked between him, Sarah, and Sam. Sarah watched her face go through many emotions and then settle on confusion. 

“He’s my real dad, same hair.” Sarah pointed to Steve. 

“Oh.” 

That was all the woman said before walking off. Sarah couldn’t tell what she meant but it probably wasn’t the best because both Sam and Steve attempted to pull the brims of their baseball caps even lower. 

“Is it a clashing blue? Because it all looks the same right now,” Sarah said going back to the task at hand. 

“They go together.” 

Sarah looked at the two backpacks. Not that she didn’t trust Steve but she also didn’t trust Steve. Yeah, sure he was an artist but Sarah still didn’t quite believe his sense of what looked nice. 

“I’ll take the green one.” 

She placed the stationary they were looking at in the cart and walked off to go find the rest of the supplies. She only made a few steps when Sarah realized no one was behind her.

“Dheaidí? Dad? Calculators… ooh, lip gloss.”

Steve grabbed the shopping cart and both he and Sam went to grab her a calculator while she got distracted by makeup. 

* * *

“Captain Rogers, it’s an honor to meet you. My grandfather served with your Howling Commandos, Jim Morita?” the principal shook Steve’s hand rather enthusiastically. 

“Jim, good man. Always making us laugh,” Steve chuckled at the memory making the principal giddy. 

Throughout the tour, students and teachers alike kept staring. Mainly because Steve was in his stealth suit. He would’ve worn something casual but he was called on a mission and had to leave immediately. He was already pushing it by telling S.H.I.E.L.D. that he was taking Sarah to her first day of school, mission or not, and they would have to accept him being late. 

“And this is the chemistry lab and your first class of the day Miss Rogers.” 

Everyone in the class, including the teacher, moved to the door to see Steve. He gave an awkward wave and then turned to Sarah. 

“I gotta go now, Sarah.” 

“How long?” 

“Two weeks.”

“Weeks?”

“I know, I’m sorry. Three days and I’ll call.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He held out a pinky. 

“Oh and Pietro’s picking you up, he insisted.” 

Sarah groaned knowing that meant they weren’t taking a car. Steve chuckled and gave her a hug before he left. The students all returned to their seats and Sarah sat at an empty lab bench. Maybe Uncle Jamie was wrong. Yeah she picked Midtown but maybe school still wasn’t going to be easy. She got through the morning classes quickly and quietly. 

No one talked to Sarah, everyone too busy staring. She was no longer in the private eye and Steve’s famous status was already affecting her. Hers as well but people tried not to mention 001, not that she didn’t hear whispers. Especially since it had been announced that she had to speak at the UN just like Bucky had to in a week. It was more customary than anything. To absolve Sarah of anything she did under HYDRA’s influence. But they just had to announce it the day before she started school. Sarah walked into the cafeteria and grabbed lunch. Even if they tried not to look, the kids were still staring. She noticed a few waving and attempting to call her over, trying to be louder than other tables doing the same. Making friends was going to be interesting. 

“Free seat over here, babe,” Flash Thompson called. 

Sarah remembered him from her history class, somehow he got it in his head that she liked the nickname. Sarah acted like she didn’t hear him, purposely turning her face so the hearing aid would show, and scanned the cafeteria landing on a relatively empty table with two boys. 

“Can I sit here?” Sarah asked when she walked over. 

“Yeah su— holy crap, you’re Sarah Rogers,” the tan boy said as he looked up from his lunch. 

“Yeah,” she said, tight-lipped. 

“You’re so cool! I mean your dad is so co—”

“Ned!” Another boy cut him off. 

“I’m sorry, he didn’t mean it. I mean you’re cool, not that you’re not cool we just don’t want you to feel weird unless this is making you feel weird…”

Sarah sat down at the table anyway, if they annoyed her too much she would just move. 

“I’m used to weird. Sarah Rogers,” she introduced herself even though it was pointless.

“Peter Parker.”

“Ned Leeds.”

“Michelle Jones,” a voice piped up. “But my friends call me MJ, if I had any.” 

Sarah looked over to see a girl sitting at the table but slightly farther away. She gave them a shrug and went back to reading. Sarah was going to say something else but Michelle seemed content to only be at the table so Sarah went back to her lunch and the two boys in front of her.

“So…” Ned started. “Have you ever thrown the shield?”

Peter shoved Ned’s shoulder. “Ned!”

“What, don’t you want to know?” 

She looked at the two of them and laughed a little. Ned’s curiosity seemed so pure that it didn’t bother her. 

“No, my dad doesn’t really like when anyone touches it.” 

“Bummer.” Ned nodded his head, seriously. 

The rest of lunch went quietly, Ned and Peter in their own little world. They didn’t really talk but Sarah liked their presence. It turned out they were both in her robotics class and Sarah joined their table. 

“This must be child’s play for you,” Ned said as he got out the small robot they had started the first day of school. 

“I mean, it’s n—” 

Everyone covered their ears at the high pitched ringing from one of the machines. Sarah ripped her hearing aids out, the sharp whistle cutting through it extra loud. The hearing aids crashed to the ground and the teacher ran over to help the student turn off the machine, crushing the aids in the process. He looked down underneath his foot. 

“Oh no. Oh, goodness, Sarah I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” 

Sarah picked up the broken hearing aids and looked at them. The rest of the day was going to be even more quiet than it already was and now she would have to sit in the front row for every class to make sure she could hear while taking notes— which was the absolute last thing Sarah wanted to do. 

Pietro greeted her outside when school ended, creating a second buzz amongst the students. Sarah started to wonder if this was her new daily life. Pietro noticed her hearing aids were gone and Sarah held up the crushed pieces. He laughed at her expense for a solid three minutes. 

“Let’s go, Doll.”

“Not your doll,” Sarah said as he picked her up and ran, much to her protest. 

“A car. You can’t just take a car?” 

“Where’s the fun in that?” 

“Pietro, stop torturing her,” Wanda laughed but made no move to actually help Sarah when Pietro dragged her around the entire compound a couple times before letting her go. 

* * *

“You’re quiet, Peter Parker,” Sarah said as she bit into an apple. 

It was almost the end of the school week and every day she found herself sitting at Peter and Ned— and technically Michelle’s— table. Peter hadn’t said a word the whole time since their first encounter, letting Ned do most, all, of the talking. 

“It’s cause he’s never talked to a girl.”

“You don’t talk to girls either, Ned. It’s not that. I just don’t want to make you feel weird, I know everyone just talks about your dad.” 

“Thank you, I guess… I think you two are kinda cool.”

“You’d be the first,” Michelle muttered. She gave a cheesy smile when the three of them looked over at her. 

“Do you want to come over?” Sarah asked, indicating the several seats between Michelle and her. 

“I’m good watching from over here, thanks.”

Sarah opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again. Michelle reminded her of Natasha. Weirdly hard shell but good person over all. She wasn’t really making fun of anyone, just snippy comments, so they were content to let her be and hoped that maybe she’d join the table one day.

“Do you like legos?” Ned asked, causing Peter to bang his head on the table. 

“Never played with them.” 

“Oh, dude, me and Peter have so many sets. You’ve got to join, we’re doing one this Friday.” 

“I can’t… I have my UN meeting. Maybe, when I get back Sunday?” 

Peter looked up. He wasn’t expecting Sarah to actually enjoy what he and Ned found interesting. 

“Yeah, yeah, that’d be cool. We should exchange phone numbers. To make a date I mean— not a date date, like for the set…”

Sarah pulled out her phone and shoved it into Peter’s hand, shutting him up. He and Ned gave her their phones. They both laughed when they saw the contact name that had been listed: **Your Favorite Avenger.**

“Don’t give my number to anyone. I’ve already had to change it twice… and don’t lose your phone, please.” 

Ned held his phone to his chest. “I’ll guard it with my life.” 

“You’re so weird. I like that.”

“I hope it’s not rude,” Peter started. “But I was wondering about your hearing aids.”

“Ask away, I don’t mind.” 

“Do you wear them all the time? And can you hear without them?”

“I pretty much wear them all the time. I’m moderately deaf in my right ear and hard of hearing in my left, it’s just a lot of straining to hear without them.” 

“Oh. I was just wondering because I didn’t see an interpreter with you.”

“Yeah, Principal Morita offered but I’m okay without one. I only sign with my dad really, not many people bother. I get by just fine… one second.”

Sarah's phone went off and the special ringtone told her it was Tony before she even checked the phone. Peter and Ned watched her expression shift as she picked up the phone. 

“Happy?” 

“Yeah, kid. Tony got called in and can’t pick you up. I’m gonna get you but it’s going to be late.” 

“How late?”

“I don’t know, I’m running errands for him currently.” 

Happy spoke carefully. Steve had made everyone in the compound aware of Sarah's separation anxiety and the need to have exact times and schedules about when people were with her. 

“Happy?” her voice rose. “An hour? Two hours?” 

“Sarah, I honestly can’t tell you.” 

“Hey, you okay?” Peter asked when Sarah's voice rose. 

She muted the call for a minute. “My Uncle Tony can’t pick me up right away.” 

“Tony? The Mr. Stark?” Ned said, excitedly. 

Peter picked up on how she seemed worried. 

“Do you want to come home with us? He can pick you up from my apartment, I live with my Aunt May close to school. It’s not very far at all.” 

Sarah breathed out a sigh of relief at not being alone anymore. 

“Thank you, Peter. Happy? It’s fine, I’m going home with a friend… yes, I’ll text you the address. Yes, he’s trustworthy… No! It’s my first week, he’s a friend. Peter Parker… What kind of a name is Happy? Mmm hmm, I won’t forget to text you. I’ll do it right when I hang up. Okay, bye.” 

“Your life seems interesting,” Peter said once Sarah hung up. 

“Hectic. It’s hectic,” the girl admitted. “So, what’s your address?”


	14. Chapter 14

“Aunt May! I brought over someone else besides Ned, I hope it’s alright,” Peter called into his apartment. 

“It’s probably not as big as the compound but it’s home.”

“I lived in a cell for a good chunk of my life, nothing’s too small.” 

Sarah didn’t want Peter to feel like just because she came from the Avengers’ lifestyle that she was some stuck up. 

“Oh, of course, Peter. That’s fin— Oh, hello, you’re a girl.” Aunt May came from around the corner making Peter groan again. 

“Hi, I’m Sarah Rogers. It’s nice to meet you Ms. Parker.”

“Please, just call me May… Sarah Rogers? As in—”

“Yes, May! We’re just going to hang out in my room until her ride gets here,” Peter cut her off. 

While Peter pushed Sarah and Ned towards his room, he caught the look of May. 

“She’s cute,” May mouthed. 

“Friend. I just met her.”

“I’m just saying.”

May and Peter communicated in various facial expressions and mouthing words until he couldn’t see May anymore and Sarah, he, and Ned were down the hall. There was nothing better to do while they waited but homework. Peter let Sarah take the desk chair while he and Ned sat on the bottom bunk of his bed. 

“Do you two mind if I put on music? I work better with music.” Sarah looked up from the math textbook. 

Ned and Peter shrugged. 

“What do you listen to?” 

“Honestly our house listens to a lot of jazz. Two out of four of us are from World War II.” 

“Well, at least it won’t be distracting.” 

She turned up the music on her phone and set it down on the desk while the three of them kept working. Once she finished, Sarah checked her phone and still didn’t see any text from Happy or Tony. Sarah watched Ned and Peter until they finished doing their own work. 

“So…” 

She didn’t know what to say. She never had friends her age before, Cooper and Lila didn't count being family. Plus, Peter and Ned seemed so close that Sarah wasn't sure if she would impose by saying the wrong thing. The two boys looked over at her and suddenly she felt the rest of Peter’s room was more interesting. 

“Is that a Rubik’s Cube?” 

Sarah walked over to the drawer that it was laying on top of about to grab it when she stopped. 

“Oh, can I?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” 

She grabbed it and returned back to the desk chair. Fingers moving at rapid speed, Sarah listened to Ned and Peter talk. She held up a solved Rubik’s Cube in accomplishment. 

“You’ve heard us talk all week, what about you?” Ned asked. 

“What about me?” 

“Who is Sarah Rogers?” Ned asked all serious that made the girl laugh. She threw him the Rubik’s Cube and spun in the chair before stopping, facing them again. 

“Hmmm. Sarah Rogers. Um, I’m a super-soldier baby, deaf, colorblind but only with blue and purple. Engineering is one of my favorite academics. Favorite color is green, I love Disney. Oh, I like to draw… I can teach you how to snap a man’s neck?”

“Awesome,” both boys said at the same time.

“Yeah?” Sarah felt the corners of her mouth lift up. “So what exactly are these lego sets we’re doing this weekend?” 

Ned began to go into a tirade about them and how he and Peter save up to buy sets. She was amazed to find out how expensive they could be. Peter pulled out a few of the sets that were kept at his house. Most were kept at Ned’s since he had more space. 

“We were gonna get a new set for Sunday, we just finished saving up for another one. You wanna pick?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You guys saved up a lot… I don’t want to pick one you don’t like.”

“That’s the beauty, the goal’s to build them all at some point.” 

Peter pulled up the sets in their price range and called her over. They scooted over so she could sit on the bed and flip through. Sarah bit her lip nervously as her eyes landed on the one she wanted, knowing it wasn't the coolest. 

“Which one?” Peter pulled his phone out of her head. “Steamboat Willie? You really do like Disney.”

“We don’t have to go with that one. I’ll pi—”

“Looks cool enough,” Ned said as he peered over Peter’s shoulder. “I’ll pick it up. Just text us when you want to come over on Sunday and I’ll bring it.” 

“Knock, knock,” Aunt May said as she stood in the doorway. “Sarah? A Happy is here for you.” 

“Happy! Thank you for letting me come over, May.” 

“No problem sweetie, anytime really.”

Sarah turned to her new friends. 

“I like hanging out with you two. I’ll see you Sunday. Catch you later, Ned, Peter Parker.” 

Sarah greeted Happy at the door. He was holding an apology burger and milkshake courtesy of Tony. Sarah gave a final wave goodbye and left with the big bodyguard for the drive back to the compound. 

* * *

She wished Steve was here but he was still on a mission. Bucky and Natasha had come back from their separate mission so they were accompanying Sarah along with Tony and Sharon who was now S.H.I.E.L.D’s plug with the CIA. Everyone wanted to wait till Steve got back but the UN wasn’t having it. S.H.I.E.L.D. had a sneaking suspicion that they were up to something and this was just the start but there wasn’t much they could do. 

“Why do I have to straighten my hair?” Sarah asked as she sat in the salon chair while on the phone with Sam and Steve. 

“I don’t know, the PR team said it was best you do.” Steve shrugged and looked at Sam. 

“It makes you seem more ‘presentable’ is what they want to say.” 

“Presentable?” 

“They think our hair’s not suitable for the workplace. A lot of those country leaders and diplomats at your UN meeting aren’t black. PR wants you to appeal to the masses, you’ve already got the blonde hair America’s darling thing going. They want to place you as close to whiteness and Steve as they can… yeah, I know. Unfair, sweetheart, I know.” 

Sarah frowned but continued to let the salon lady straighten her hair. She appreciated that Sam was always blunt with things she and Steve didn’t understand. He truly was there for the two of them. 

“Dheaidí, can you braid my hair when you get home? Like the ones that Howard girl did?”

“Um, I can try, Babydoll.”

Sam chuckled already knowing the gears turning in Steve’s head as he tried to figure out how many tutorials it would take him to figure it out. They could’ve found someone to do it for sure but Sarah really wanted some time with Steve.

“I wish you two were here.”

“We do too but we couldn’t cut the mission shorter than tomorrow. We’ll see you after the meeting though, we promise. But you’ve got Aunt Nat, Uncle Tony and Buck. You’ll be fine sweetheart, it’s just a little meeting think of it like a parent-teacher conference… What are we going to do if they schedule a parent-teacher conference when we’re on missions?” 

Steve started to focus on a different problem, overthinking once again. 

“Babe,” Sam broke through Steve’s hyperfocus. “Bridge we’ll cross when we get there, okay. You’ll do just great, Sarah. Knock it out of the park, got it?”

“Got it. Dheaidí?”

“Yes?”

_When’s the wedding?_

Steve choked, leaving Sam a confused mess between Sarah's laughing and Steve’s blubbering. She hoped he wouldn’t try to learn sign language. There was something fun about being able to talk with Steve, Clint, and Bucky behind everyone else’s back… only in front of them. 

_Sarah,_ Steve signed with a serious face.

_Yes?_

_Sam and I… this is still new to me._

Steve shook his head. “Why am I talking with you about this?” 

“Because I’m not a baby anymore.”

“Always my baby.” 

_But you two have been together since I was gone right? He’s already a part of the family._

“Let it go.”

_I’m gonna be the flower girl, right?_

“Don’t you have a hair appointment to finish. Bye, Sarah.” 

“Bye, Dheaidí. Bye, Dad.” 

Sarah hopped out of the salon chair and looked at herself in the mirror. The straight hair wasn’t bad. But it was a lot of work and with an Avenger lifestyle, she was almost positive it would be sweated out and it probably wasn’t for her. She exited the salon and into the black van waiting for her outside— the good thing about living in New York was that the UN headquarters was there and that’s where they chose to have the meeting. Tony, Bucky, Nat, and Sharon were already in the car along with the head of the Avengers’ PR team who was giving Sarah last minute tips and prep. 

“Don’t scare the poor girl,” Bucky said. “It wasn’t that bad, little doll. I’ll be up there with you anyway.” 

Bucky was a stand-in for Steve as legal guardian. If it wasn’t him, it was going to be one of the other Avengers. They were all her pseudo-guardians. Bucky had a hand on Sarah's shoulder the whole time as her entered the UN floor. For the most part he was right, it wasn’t too bad. Sarah got mainly sympathetic looks from the dignitaries in front of her. 

It was time for a brief recess and she left the stand to stretch her legs while Bucky got her a water. Sarah shook hands with more people than she could count and accepted so many apologies and questions about her position on the Avengers— which Tony swooped in to answer most of those, including her unofficial status until she had a suit and a moniker… and her dad actually let her go on missions. 

“Miss Rogers, I’m King T’Chaka and this is my son Prince T’Challa,” an older gentleman said as he shook Sarah's hand. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

“We are utterly sorry to hear all you’ve been put through at such a young age. If you would like, for both you and Sergeant Barnes, Wakanda would be glad to help.” 

“Wakanda?” Sarah's brain scrambled for where she had heard that before. “Oh, vibranium like my dad’s shield.” 

“Yes,” T’Challa chuckled. “We’re a little more than meets the eye. Feel free to visit at any time, we find the fresh air of our country can be very beneficial. Work miracles almost.” 

T’Challa shared a knowing look with his father. Sarah didn’t have time to ask more questions before they called her back to finish speaking. Bucky intercepted a question about the Avengers taking responsibility for collateral damages when events such as Sokovia happened. 

“With all due respect, that’s a question for Captain Rogers not his daughter. And we’re trying to figure out how to save the world with less damage which aside from bigger cases, we’ve managed to do pretty well. Once again we do apologize for damage caused to Sokovia and have been working closely with the city to continue repairing damages. If there are no other questions for Sarah, we would like to wrap this up. She does have homework she has to finish.” 

That earned a small laugh from everyone on the floor. Bucky nodded to one reporter who stuck his pen up for the last question. The man stood up and flipped open his notepad to read off his question. 

“This is actually in regards to both Sergeant Barnes and Miss Rogers about your time in HYDRA.” 

“Yes?” 

“How do we know that you are working for the Avengers? That this isn’t some HYDRA scheme?”

“Well, I suppose we—”

“For instance if an agent were to come in, you wouldn’t turn on us?”

“Both Sarah and I have no positive affiliation with HYDR—”

“Not even if they were to say **_Longing. Rusted._** ”

Sarah and Bucky both froze like deers in headlights. Bucky recovered first and ripped her hearing aids out to at least try and save Sarah while Nat ran from her spot in the back of the room to stop the reporter. But it didn’t matter because the reporter’s pre-recorded voice came over the loudspeaker and no matter how much they covered their ears Sarah and Bucky could still hear it. 

“FRIDAY, locate the source and shut it off!” Tony commanded. 

“On it, Mr. Stark.” The A.I’s voice came through. 

_**“Benign. Homecoming.”** _

Sarah and Bucky tried to run. 

_**“One. Freight Car.”** _

Both of them stood still in their tracks while the other Avengers yelled for people to run while it was oddly silent. The crackle of the pre-recorded voice came back over the speakers with their instructions. Sarah and Bucky pushed past everyone. Bucky picked up the reporter while Sarah attacked anyone who got in the way. They entered a hallway, Bucky twisting the door so it stayed locked. The reporter asked them questions that whether they wanted to or not, they both were answering. There was pounding at the door, attempts by the Avengers to get them out. 

“You’ll get me to safety and where I need to go. Now, Soldat. 001.” 

Sarah ripped the door off of the handle and threw it at Tony. Bucky set the reporter down and picked Sarah up, throwing her into Nat and Sharon. The Avengers had never seen the two fight before and not as a tag team with Bucky— although, right now, this was not exactly where they’d be wanting to see the two in action. 

Someone in a catsuit had also appeared to stop the fighting. Bucky ran with the reporter, fighting off anyone that stopped him, while Sarah tried to distract and hold the others back. He succeeded in getting the reporter to a helicopter and starting it up before he turned back around— even under programming, Bucky always came back for Sarah. He almost twisted the man in the catsuit’s arm behind his back when he saw him corner her. 

“We’re gonna have to shoot,” Everett Ross said. 

“Are you crazy?” Tony started, much to the agreement of others. 

Tony hadn’t packed his whole suit but he did have the glove. It formed around his hand and Tony hesitated for a split second before coming after Sarah and hitting her in the temple with the glove. 

“Sorry, G.I.”

Sarah stumbled back and Bucky’s attention was immediately focused on Tony who was now backing up. Her head was spinning as she came to her senses. Sarah blinked a couple times and looked to see Bucky stalking towards Tony. She ran in front of him. 

“Uncle Jamie, I’m okay.” 

Sarah snaked a hand up to his temple, knowing she could get away with it as he assessed that she wasn't injured. She hit him as hard as Tony had hit her and he stumbled back but also came to his senses. Bucky looked around to see everyone but the two of them almost out of breath. 

“What did we do?”

“Honestly, we’re not sure yet. We’re trying to figure out who that reporter was and how the hell he slipped through the cracks.” 

“He’s HYDRA,” Sarah said, dryly. “They always find a way to slip through the cracks… who’s he?”

Everyone turned to see King T’Chaka coming up behind the man in the sleek black catsuit. He removed his helmet and they were surprised to see Prince T’Challa. So this was what the two of them meant when they said Wakanda was more than meets the eye. The king approached Sarah and Bucky. 

“Miss Rogers, Sergeant Barnes… it is hard to explain but we strongly suggest that you take up our offer. For the safety of everyone and our Avengers, we think we can help with your programming problem.” 

Bucky was all for it. He had enough of HYDRA’s control on him but he sensed Sarah's hesitation. 

_What’s wrong, little doll?_

“I just started school… I was starting to enjoy my life.”

T’Challa spoke up. 

“Maybe for the weekends? It would take longer, maybe two months instead of one. But I don’t think we want to disrupt and upset Miss Rogers’ life any more, Baba. Does that work for you?”

“I think we should talk with Steve,” Bucky took over the guardian role again. “But that seems like it might be best for the two of us.”

T’Challa and his father nodded, leaving contacts with Bucky, and then left before anyone else on the UN floor could spot T’Challa in his suit. Sarah and Bucky went back to the UN floor for a final statement that no one was truly paying attention to. They didn’t need it, everyone had witnessed firsthand the damage HYDRA had inflicted on the two of them. They were quickly ushered into the van to head back home. 

“Shit,” Tony muttered as he put his phone down. “The helicopter was ditched as soon as he could. We’ve lost the guy.”

“He’ll show up again eventually, they always do.” 

“What did he want from you two? What was he asking you in that hallway?” 

Sarah and Bucky couldn’t remember to save their lives. 

“Doesn’t matter. He probably wants what all of HYDRA wants,” Nat said. “Why the long face, kiddo?” 

“Can we dance when we get home?” 

Nat nodded. Sarah's question answering hers. The van stayed quiet for Sarah's sake, understanding she felt like crap after everything. HYDRA had that control over her. Being born under them, it was always harder for Sarah to shake off a spell than it was for Bucky. He would go straight to the moping stage but Sarah usually spent a few hours in the stages of guilt and fear. Sarah pulled out her phone and texted Ned and Peter in her newly formed group chat, _Two Weirdos and Rogers._

**Favorite Avenger: Guys, can we reschedule to Monday? I don’t think I’m feeling the weekend anymore.**

**Mastermind (Ned): No problem, are you okay?**

**The Awkward One (Peter): Are you okay? We saw what happened.**

**Favorite Avenger: It’s already on the news?!**

**The Awkward One: Yeah… but no one’s saying anything bad.**

**Favorite Avenger: whatever, can we do Monday after school?**

**Mastermind: P and I have decathlon after school but if you’re cool waiting till after that.**

**Favorite Avenger: Yeah, sounds fine.**

**The Awkward One: are you sure you’ll be okay?**

**Favorite Avenger: yeah, I’ll be fine. See you guys Monday**

Sam and Steve came back from their mission to see Sarah and Bucky laying on the floor of their living room, with face masks, foot masks, hand masks, and two candles between them. Sam snapped a picture on his phone before either one of them stepped further into the room. As if he wasn’t going to use this as blackmail against Barnes later. 

“We’re back, Babydoll… and we picked up the braiding hair.” 

Sarah held up a hand since she couldn’t speak with the mask on. Sarah signed to Steve that it would take ten more minutes before she could move so the two men left her and Bucky on the living room floor. For Sam, the new scent in the house was a lot. For Steve and Bucky it was downright overwhelming but Sarah had made the whole house smell like ocean breeze thanks to her candles. 

“Is your niece like this, too?” Steve asked Sam, half-joking.

Once the self-care was over, Sarah called Steve out of his room and into the living room. He laid out everything and took a deep breath. He laughed at himself a little. He could jump out of planes without a parachute but had to mentally hype himself for braiding his daughter's hair. Steve sighed after starting over on the first braid for the fifth time. Sam entered the area after hearing Steve yell in frustration. 

“You good?” 

“He’s struggling,” Sarah said, not taking her eyes from her phone where she was texting Ned and Peter. 

“She made it look so easy, but I’m sorry. Gripping and making the separate pieces is not easy,” he yelled back at the video on the laptop resting on the couch. 

“Move.” 

Sam walked over and Steve gladly moved out of the way. He watched as Sam split the hair and started working. He sulked into the kitchen when it became apparent that Sam could braid it no problem. Sarah set the phone down, it was too hard to concentrate with her head moving about, and turned on the TV. 

Bucky came back from a sparring session with Nat and Pietro— they wanted to teach him skills past just being fast. He smirked when he saw the scene, Sam braiding Sarah's hair while Steve sprawled out on the couch invested in the movie and very occasionally feeding Sam popcorn. 

“How domestic,” Bucky fake swooned. “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes open up a salon. Ever think about quitting your day job, Wilson?” 

Sam rolled his eyes. 

“Keep laughing but I got a picture of you and Sarah with those mud masks on.” 

Sam held up his phone in satisfaction. Bucky stepped closer and Sam threw the phone at him.

“Go ahead and delete it. Already sent it to the whole team… shouldn’t have called me a bird-brain,” Sam smiled proud of himself. 

“Steve, get your boyfriend.”

“Give it up, Uncle Jamie,” Sarah sighed, making Sam and Steve laugh. “You done been caught.” 

“… Man’s whole family gangs up on him, just not right.” 

Bucky muttered as he stalked off. He came back after his shower like they all knew he would and sat down silently. Steve handed over his popcorn bowl which of course Bucky accepted. 

* * *

“I’ll be late for dinner,” Sarah said as the car pulled up to school. Since they were free, Steve and Sam could actually drop her off for once. 

“Why?” Steve asked. 

“Ned and Peter have their nerd decathlon practices right after school so we can’t start the Steamboat set till after that.”

“Steamboat set?”

“Yeah, Steamboat Willie. The lego set based on the Disney… we watched Fantasia last month? Never mind, Dheaidí. Dinner, I’ll be late. Happy already agreed to drive me home.”

“You got Happy in on your little plan?”

“… maybe…” 

“How late are we talking?”

“Fifteen minutes? No more than twenty-five, promise. Bye!” 

Sarah ran out of the car and met up with Peter and Ned who were waiting for her up front. They complimented the new hair and she flipped it obnoxiously for effect. 

“And she had the nerve to call them nerds. Has your daughter met herself?” Sam asked. 

“At least she has friends?”

“At least she has friends.” 

Both men chuckled as they watched Sarah high-five the two boys and walk inside the building, throwing her arms around their shoulders.


	15. Chapter 15

“Hey, Rogers,” someone called in the morning Statistics class— the concept of a rotating schedule was weird but Sarah was adjusting to classes not being at the same time each day.

She looked up in surprise that someone had called her name. She was positive after the mess that happened over the weekend everyone would stay far away from 001. The teacher didn’t seem to care that students’ talked during the problem-solving time at the end of class as long as they weren’t talking during the actual lesson. 

“Is it true?” 

“Is what true?”

“That freaky UN shit, that was a joke right?”

Sarah ducked her head back into the textbook to write down another problem into her notebook. Some of the other students laughed as she looked away. It amazed her, one week she was the school’s coolest celebrity but right now, well, she wasn't sure what she was but it certainly wasn’t America’s Darling. 

“So all you’d have to say is **_longing_** —” 

Sarah ripped out the hearing aids as quickly as possible. She was breathing rapidly and pressing her hands to her ears as hard as possible. The teacher’s attention was suddenly on the class.

“Mister Adams! Principal’s office, now! Are you okay Miss Rogers?”

She bent down in front of the desk. Tears were threatening to spill out and Sarah was shaking her head back and forth. Anyone who at first thought the joke was funny suddenly felt bad. She jumped when the teacher placed a hand on her shoulder. She spoke a little slower and more deliberate and— despite it being unnecessary since she was so close the girl could hear her and the fact that Sarah was used to reading quick lips— Sarah appreciated the gesture. 

“Class is almost over anyway, why don’t you catch your breath before going to the next one. Or maybe the counselor’s office? I’ll write you a pass.”

Sarah thanked her and haphazardly shoved all her stuff into her backpack. The bell rang as she got a few steps away from her classroom. She accidentally bumped into someone and when Sarah looked up it was Ned, right next to Peter. Both of them eyed her with concern. 

“I’m fine,” she tried to reassure them until Principal Morita’s voice came in through the intercom. 

“Students. I understand we’ve all seen the events that transpired this past weekend. Any jokes about the UN meeting will be met with punishment and so much as a whisper of certain words will be greeted with a prompt suspension. We take care of our fellow students at Midtown and I, as well as the rest of the faculty, expect more from you all. That is all. Have a pleasant day and learn something new.” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Sarah pushed past the boys when Peter grabbed her arm. She turned back and gave him a watery smile. 

“I’ll catch you at lunch, Peter Parker.” 

He nodded and let go of her arm with some reluctance. Her chemistry teacher understood when Sarah handed him her homework and then booked it to the counselor’s office. She let the girl stay in her office until lunch, asking if Sarah wanted her to call anyone. 

“It might be better if you call someone, maybe they can come get you.” 

“I’m supposed to go to a friend’s house after school,” Sarah mumbled. 

“Oh, that’s good! I’m very glad you’ve made friends, Sarah.” 

She nodded and sighed before taking the office phone and dialing in the ten digit phone number. 

“It’s my Uncle Clint… can you please ask him not to tell my dad.”

“Of course, Sarah. Patient confidentiality, I am actually licensed,” she chuckled while waiting for the call to go through and somehow that made Sarah feel a bit better. 

As Sarah left the office to head to the cafeteria her phone pinged with a series of texts from Clint, he didn’t like long paragraphs. It made her chuckle. While he wasn’t necessarily the best at giving advice he always knew the right thing to say— in this case it was a supposedly very confidential story about what happened in Budapest. Was there supposed to be some lesson there? Probably. In his own weird way, advice was usually found deep in the story. 

Sarah pocketed the phone and made it to her usual table. She was shocked to see Michelle sitting in the seat right next to her usual one. Ned and Peter shrugged when Sarah gave them a questioning look. 

“One time thing,” Michelle said. “I don’t like seeing you wallow, miserable’s not cute on you. You’re meant to be a smiler… Adams is a dick.” 

“Thank you… MJ.”

She shrugged like it meant nothing but Sarah watched her smile while reading. She felt satisfied for the time being. Michelle would come around eventually, Sarah was sure of it. 

Her teachers and classmates alike let her be in silence for the rest of the day which Sarah appreciated. While robotics rotated out, she wasn't too upset because she was still seeing Ned and Peter after school… and Michelle, surprisingly. Sarah didn’t know she was on the decathlon team. 

Mr. Harrington, one of the science teachers and coach for the decathlon, was more than willing to let Sarah sit in on their practice in the library. Flash blew her a kiss, that was ignored, before being brought to attention by Mr. Harrington. Sarah pulled out homework and finally stuck her hearing aids back in, trusting no one on the team was going to pull anything. 

“Alright team. Let’s work on some questions! I was thinking today I just ask questions and you answer, no training, no prep so we see what you guys know. Sound good?” 

“Sounds good, Mr. Harrington,” the team responded. 

Sarah listened to him ask all sorts of questions, the team doing fairly well. They seemed well-rounded, there was always at least one person that knew the answer. Mr. Harrington was going through the flashcards at record speed. 

“This is an art one. What’s the printing process in which ink is forced into recessed lines?” 

Everyone paused, making funny faces in attempts to rack their brains for an answer. 

“Intaglio,” Sarah muttered. 

The whole team looked at her. She shrunk in the seat. 

“The answer you were looking for was intaglio… I’m sorry, it’s your practice. I wasn’t try— you just seemed like—”

Mr. Harrington just shook his head and picked up another flashcard, looking directly at her. 

“What measures the responsiveness of the quantity demanded to a change in price?”

“Elasticity.” 

“Louis Daguerre used mercury frames in his photography experiments for what task?”

“Shorten exposure time for developing an image.”

“The ancient Mediterranean world was characterized by lots of technological advancements especially in what field?”

“Metalworking.”

“Where was the earliest known case of smallpox found.”

“The mummy of… Ramses the fifth?” 

“Correct. If you don’t mind me asking…”

“It’s 194.” 

“Brains and beauty, you are the perfect woman.” Flash shot Sarah a smile.

“Would you like to join decathlon? You’d be the perfect addition,” Mr. Harrington asked, the rest of the team nodding along. 

Sarah snorted. “I’m good.” 

“Such a waste of talent, are you sure?” 

“Avengers already takes up a lot of time.” 

“Oh, of course, right. Avengering… avengering?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged. “Uncle Tony just calls it saving the world.” 

After getting over the fact that she really did know every Avenger, the team finished up practice and Sarah walked with Peter and Ned to Peter’s apartment. Ned proudly brought out the Steamboat Willie lego set. 

“How long are you two planning on staying? We can order a pizza,” Aunt May said from the doorway of Peter’s room. 

“Ham and pineapple?” 

“You got it, Ned.” 

“I promised my dads I’d be home for dinner. Maybe next time?” 

“Of course, sweetie. I’ll just order a large for us then, boys.” 

“Woah,” Sarah gasped as Ned unboxed the set. 

She wasn't expecting so many pieces and pages to the manual. It was agreed that they would each work on separate parts of the boat since the manual seemed to say they could and then would connect them at the end. The boat was slowly coming together and Sarah understood why Peter and Ned did this, it was like working in Tony and Bruce’s lab…

“You guys want to see something cool?” 

“Sure?”

She put down the part of the boat that she was working on and opened the secret compartment of her backpack. She pulled out the two gloves that she had been working on. 

“Is that an Iron Man glove?!” 

“Nope. Well, kind of. I made it. Uncle Tony’s letting me borrow the plans for his suit.” 

“That is so cool!”

Sarah took off the glove and gave one to each boy. “It doesn’t actually shoot anything big yet, just jets of air until I finish the rest. But it still lights up.” 

Ned and Peter aimed the gloves at each other, aggressively blowing jets of air into the other person’s face. Sarah laughed hysterically as their hair stuck up everywhere in the midst of their hot air war. Eventually, Ned picked up how to make the jetstream continuous and didn’t let up on Peter until the other one surrendered. They handed Sarah the gloves back to tuck away. 

“I’ll bring you to the compound when I finish the whole thing.”

“Will they let us in?” Peter asked. “Isn’t it fairly classified?”

“Hmm… you’ll probably have to get security detailed but I don’t see why you can’t come.” 

The three of them finished the set just in time as Happy approached the door. He actually stepped inside and went all the way to Peter’s room. He came in with a box that held another lego set, the Hogwarts Express. 

“Your dad told Tony about the legos and he insisted,” Happy said. 

Sarah took the box and handed it to Peter. He placed the boat in her hands. 

“Not too much room here to store it, plus it’s your first set. You should keep it.” 

“Thanks guys.” Sarah gave them both hugs. “See you tomorrow. Bye, Ned. Bye, Peter Parker.” 

“Why do you always say both my names?”

She shrugged. “I like the way it sounds.” 

When she got home, Sarah showed off the little boat to her family before heading up to her room while Steve went downstairs to help Wanda and Sam cook— it was a team dinner today with everyone at home. Clint knocked on the door as Sarah was moving around the souvenirs from Sam and Steve’s last mission in Alaska in order to put the boat on the bookshelf. 

_How did the rest of school go?_ Clint signed, knowing that two super-soldiers were in the house and could come upstairs at any moment to get them for food. 

_Fine._

_Fine?_

_No one else bothered me. Stupid kid, thought it was funny._

_Alright… I’m here for you. Okay? Anything you can’t tell Steve, you know you can tell me._

_I know. I’m fine, really. Thanks, Uncle Clint._

_No problem, kid._

_One question._

_Yes?_

_Did that really happen in Budapest?_

_Nat thought her being the Russian prostitute was too cliche._

_So if I ask her?_

“You will do no such thing.”

“What won’t Sarah do?” Steve asked as he came into the room. 

“Nothing!” Clint said too quickly. 

“Ask Uncle Clint,” Sarah said as she walked out before looking behind to stare at Clint. “Maybe he’ll _volunteer_ to tell you.”

“I did not!” Clint said as he followed, leaving Steve utterly confused. 

“Where’s Pietro?” Sarah asked as she approached the dinner table. 

She felt the two knocks and turned around just in time to catch the fork. Pietro laughed as he, for once, walked at a normal speed to the table. He sat down next to her but didn’t mess with her for the rest of dinner. 

“Are you going to your friend’s house again tomorrow?” Sam asked. 

“Friend? Like actual friends?” Tony perked up and so did the rest of the team. 

“Um, yeah. Ned Leeds, Peter Parker, and MJ.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Uncle Tony.” 

“Nothing.” 

“It means something.” 

“Lots of testosterone, that’s all.” 

“Tony means,” Nat cleaned up for him. “Living with idiotic boys we thought you’d want some girlfriends. Especially since you seem to like feminine things.” 

“I have you, Wanda, and Aunt Pepper… also MJ’s a girl.” 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t admit that she likes us though. She’s kind of like you, Aunty Nat.” 

That made the whole team laugh. Even Natasha chuckled a bit since Sarah wasn't exactly wrong. She told Steve and Sam that she probably would go over to Peter’s tomorrow but would be back early. Dinner finished with several jokes and stories. Steve called a family meeting when their small household got back into their apartment. 

“Sam and I are leaving again on Thursday. Fury said we’re needed on the mission… for a month.” 

“No!” 

“Babydoll, we can’t get out of it.”

“Both of you? You both have to go?” 

“Sarah, sweetheart, we’ll call you as much as we can,” Sam assured her. “And metal man’ll still be here.” 

“Okay… at least twice a week, promise?” 

“We promise. And speaking of Buck,” Steve started. 

“You and Sarah are both on temporary leave. Your principal called Sarah. If kids are joking and know the words, then we can’t have you on missions Buck until we see if Wakanda can actually help you guys. And this’ll prolong you joining the team, Babydoll.” 

She sighed. “I figured… I’m gonna go take a bubble bath. If I don’t come back, assume I fell asleep.” 

“Babydoll!” Steve called when Sarah was halfway down the hall. 

_When we get back._ Steve signed. He knew Bucky could understand but as long as Sam didn’t, he didn’t care. Besides, he was going to tell his best friend anyway. 

_What?_

_You wanted to be flower girl, right?_

_Really?! In a month, for real?_

_Is that okay with you? You can tell me if you don’t like Sam._

_I call him dad. He’s family… I’m not giving up my bedroom._

_… Alright, doll._

Sarah got giddy. “First Budapest, now this!”

“What about Budapest?” Steve asked. 

“Nothing!” 

The girl darted down the hall before they could ask any more questions.


	16. Chapter 16

“Hey, Peter Parker. Where’s Ned?” Sarah asked when she sat down at the cafeteria. 

True to her word, Michelle was several seats away again. Sarah had seen Ned in first period robotics but now he was nowhere to be found and she knew Peter had most classes with him. Peter chuckled as the girl said both his names. 

“He got hurt last period, the nurse sent him home.”

“Aww, poor Ned… we shouldn’t start the set without him.”

Peter agreed but that left the two of them with no afternoon plans now. And since decathlon didn’t meet on Wednesdays and Fridays, they had plenty of time after school. 

“You know, I’ve never seen most of New York.”

“What? Really?” Peter looked shocked. 

“I was here once when I was twelve and aside from school, I don’t leave the compound.”

“That’s it then! After school, we tour New York. I’ll show you all the best places.” 

Flash Thompson sat down next to Sarah before she could say anything else. The girl jumped as he put his arm around her shoulder. 

“Can you please not do that?”

Flash removed his arm but didn’t rid his face of the smile he had been wearing since he strolled over. He drummed the table for a minute before speaking. 

“A bunch of us are going to the mall after school. You should come.” 

“I’m sorry, training,” Sarah lied a little too smooth that it should be worrying. 

Flash nodded in understanding. “They ever give you a free day?”

“Not until I’m a full Avenger, honestly. The hour you guys have for decathlon is about it.” 

“Bummer, well, whenever you sneak away the offer always stands to come with us. Especially when you get tired of this loser. Why do you even sit here? I’ll catch you at our practice.” Flash winked. “Bye Sarah. Penis Parker.”

Peter scoffed and then gave Sarah a look when he noticed her snickering. She apologized, still giggling and Peter rolled his eyes before getting up and pulling her along to their next class. When school ended, true to his word, Peter became an unofficial tour guide. He said there was absolutely no way to see every single thing he wanted to show of New York but it was absolutely necessary that Sarah see Manhattan. 

She had never been on public transport that wasn’t the buses of DC so the subway was a new feeling. A feeling Sarah wasn't sure she liked after seeing the subway and the strangeness on it. She sat a bit close to Peter as more people packed into the subway car. Sarah was overwhelmed when they stepped out of the subway station and into the main street. 

“You good?” Peter noticed as her body seemed tensed.

“Lot of people.”

“Yeah, it’s Manhattan. Hand?” 

Peter held out an upturned hand that Sarah gladly accepted. First stop, the Empire State Building. Peter huffed as his mini super-soldier of a friend chose to run up the stairs of the building when one of the employees said people could try it if they dared. Most of the tourists gave up and went back to a floor with elevators but Sarah didn’t. She turned around as she picked up on his heavy breathing and ran back down a few flights to meet him. 

“Want a lift?”

Peter eyed her skeptically, the two of them were almost the same height. 

“I can lift a whole car, I don’t think you’re much of a problem.” 

Sarah was right. Peter wasn’t much of a problem at all. She set him down when they reached the observation deck. It was so pretty when they looked out. Sarah pulled out her phone and flipped to the front camera. 

“I wanna send a picture to my dads.” 

Peter felt like the bottom of his face was going to fall off with the amount of selfies they took, deleting each one because Sarah didn’t like how they looked. After spending a few more minutes looking, they took the elevator down. 

“Where to next?” Sarah asked as she sent a picture she thought was decent.

“Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park. And then Broadway, back to Times Square, and home.” 

He held out his hand again which Sarah dramatically slapped her own hand into before interlacing their fingers and letting him lead the way. They stopped at Starbucks, the one thing she was familiar with, and headed to the park. 

“I’m sure you recognize this from _Friends._ ” 

“From what?”

“ _Fr_ — have you not seen that show? It’s old, six people basically live together and navigate New York and their lives together… no?”

“You mean _Living Single_?” Sam had forced Sarah and Steve to watch it, not that they were complaining after a couple of episodes.

“ _Living_ what?”

“Peter Parker! Have you never seen _Living_ _Single_?”

“You’ve never seen _Friends_!”

“… Show swap? You watch _Living Single_ and I’ll watch _Friends_.”

“Deal.”

Her phone vibrated as they hopped onto the edge of the fountain and started walking along it, while talking about nothing in particular. It was a text from the family group chat— the smaller family one that was just Sarah, Steve, Sam, and Bucky. 

“Um, my family wants to meet my friends before my dads leave tomorrow… Do you want to come over for dinner?”

“Let me text Aunt May and ask if it’s fine.” 

Sarah and Peter finished their drinks and headed towards Broadway. 

“Hamilton?” Sarah looked at the brassy doors with an interesting silhouette on it. 

“Yeah. Was off-broadway for a while, just opened up here at the end of summer. It’s supposed to be really good, the soundtrack isn’t bad.”

“We should see it.”

“Do you know how expensive tickets are?”

“When’s your birthday?”

“Already passed.”

“Then it’s a late birthday present, we should see it… what?” 

“You don’t have to keep spending your money on—”

“It’s Uncle Tony’s money and I don’t have anything else to spend it on. I want to… unless it makes you feel weird, I don’t have to.”

“No, it’s fine. I just don’t want you to think Ned and I are friends with you because of money and stuff. It’s not like that all.” 

“So, Hamilton?”

“I guess we can see Hamilton.”

Sarah smiled and texted Steve about going to see the show when he and Sam came back. Peter and her finished his mini tour before waiting where Steve told them to wait at Grand Central. Sarah clambered into the backseat with Peter so he wouldn’t feel awkward. She eyed Steve when he looked at her in the rearview but didn’t say much besides a hello. He didn’t say it but she knew that Peter’s upcoming interrogation was going to be with the whole family and Bucky was arguably about to be the worst one. 

“You kids do your homework?”

“Not yet,” Sarah answered. 

“First thing while we work on dinner.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” She mocked saluted Steve making Peter laugh. Steve rolled his eyes. 

“Is that funny?” Steve put on a serious voice and poor Peter went red. 

“No, no, sir. Mr. Captain Amer—”

“I’m just messing with ya, Queens.”

“Dheaidí!”

“Just having fun, Babydoll.”

They pulled up into the compound and Peter looked at it in awe. Like Sarah said, he had to be security detailed including FRIDAY saving his biometrics in the system. Steve waited with the kids while Peter got checked and began explaining the compound as he led the boy inside. Of course, none of it really mattered since Peter couldn’t get onto most floors without Sarah or another Avenger/S.H.I.E.L.D. agent being with him. 

“We’re back and I’ve got two teens in tow!” Steve yelled into the apartment. 

He had taken the elevator directly to their floor once reaching the residential areas to avoid Peter being overwhelmed by the entire team. Following Sarah and Steve’s lead, Peter took his shoes off at the door and slipped on one of the guest slippers that they had pointed out. Bucky and Sam waved to Peter and the two teenagers started to head to Sarah's room. 

“We’re gonna do homework and then the TV’s ours, we have some serious show watching to do.” 

Sarah pointed to where Bucky was half watching the news while reviewing agents’ training records— he took up training them while he was being placed on leave. Grabbing Peter’s hand, she directed him to the hallway. Holding his hand was the wrong move as all three men noticed and Sam proceeded to yell. 

“Door open!”

Sarah groaned in embarrassment. “We’re not even doing anything. What if I said I was gay?”

“Great, door still open.”

“You guys are embarrassing!” 

Sarah yelled as she led Peter down the hall. He didn’t say anything but just took out his books. Peter looked around and noticed Sarah didn’t have a desk. She told him that he could just sit on the bed since that was where she did all her work. They both snapped the textbooks shut when finished and walked back into the living room where Sarah was satisfied to see the TV was already free— because Bucky was not about to argue over the TV with his niece when he knew he would lose, cause Sam would take Sarah's side immediately just to bug him and then Steve would be swayed as well. 

“Want a popsicle?” she asked Peter as she walked to the kitchen.

“You two are going to ruin your appetite.”

“Never stopped you from letting me have popsicles before dinner,” Sarah brought up the first year of living with Steve. 

“It’s like that, Sarah?”

“Just like that.” 

Steve playfully glared at his daughter while opening the freezer door and handing her two popsicle tubes. Sarah and Peter sat on the couch, not terribly close in order to avoid anyone saying something to embarrass her again, while eating the popsicles and trying to figure out which show to watch first. Eventually, they settled on one episode of each show at a time starting with Friends. 

The three men watched from the kitchen as Sarah and Peter laughed while watching the TV. It was good she had someone her age to be around. They looked forward to meeting MJ and Ned as well. Peter seemed like a good kid and yes, Bucky might have been assessing him from the moment he stepped into the apartment. He didn’t sense anything bad, a lot of nervous energy but nothing bad. 

“Alright kids, dinner’s up.” 

Peter nervously answered all of the questions thrown at him until Sarah's family was satisfied that their initial assessment of him being a good kid was correct. Dinner finished and the two of them returned to the couch for two more episodes before Peter left to go home. 

Sarah showed up to decathlon practice the next day with smoothies for everyone since she had one. They were all surprised— including Mr. Harrington who definitely didn’t expect one— as she handed them out. Flash lingered as Sarah handed one to him, she was wondering when he’d move on from whatever crush or infatuation or whatever it was. But he wasn’t mean or pushy so she didn’t say anything. 

“Didn’t expect you to be here,” Ned said. 

“Yeah, you weren’t at the table.” Michelle took her smoothie. 

Sarah had skipped to spend the day with Steve and Sam since they didn’t leave on their mission till the end of the school day. The school was fairly understanding when Steve called to inform them that she wouldn’t be in for the day. But she still wanted to go to decathlon practice— their quizzing was surprisingly nice background noise while she did homework. And more importantly, Sarah really wanted to start on the Hogwarts Express set now that Ned was back and feeling better. When the team was given a small break, she whispered to Peter and Ned. 

“I finished the suit.” 

“No way, really.” 

“Yep, got the helmet done this morning. We gotta find time for you to see it. Uncle Tony hates the color combo.”

“What is it?” 

“Pink and silver.” 

Sarah laughed as both boys scrunched their noses and then tried to backtrack and say the colors were cute. Practice continued and like usual, she made her way with the boys to Peter’s house. Aunt May was pleased to hear that she could stay for dinner especially since Peter had been over the day before. 

* * *

Sarah and Nat attempted to get Wanda into the dance studio but after ten minutes and lots of complaints, Wanda bowed out to go back to normal training. Natasha was glad Sarah had forced her back into the studio. It was pleasant and she enjoyed the discipline that came with the one to two hours they spent there. Well, partial discipline. By the end, the two women would put on music that didn’t match classical ballet at all and dance however they wanted. Bucky stepped into the studio, phone in hand. 

“Your dad’s calling,” he said as he turned the phone to face Sarah showing the picture of Steve on it. 

Steve and Sam had been keeping good to their twice a week calls. Although sometimes they could only manage one during the school day and when Sarah wasn't free, causing a bit of frustration for her when she couldn’t answer and couldn’t get in contact for the rest of the day. She and Nat stopped for the day and Sarah took the phone from Bucky, following him back upstairs to the apartment. 

“Uncle Jamie?” she asked once she hung up the phone. 

“Yes?”

“Can I go to Peter’s on Friday?” 

“You know you can… what’s the catch?”

“Can I sleep over?”

“Sarah—”

“We’re just friends, you wouldn’t care if he was a girl. And don’t say it’s cause we’re straight cause if I brought home MJ and said she was a lesbian you would still say okay. Please?” 

Bucky sighed. “I wasn’t going to say that, kid, although you’re right. I was going to say your nightmares.”

“Haven’t been that bad since we started going to Wakanda, Shuri said so herself.” 

“But you still have them… if I say yes, are you going to be okay?” 

Sarah nodded and gave him a hug, saying thank you and running to her room before Bucky could change his mind— him yelling about the fact that they still had to leave Peter’s early in the morning to fly to Wakanda. Sarah packed a bag that waited patiently in the corner of her room until Friday rolled around. 

Ned couldn’t stay for dinner so it was just Sarah and Peter. They both sat on the bottom bunk of his bed, cross-legged and facing each other, for a game of twenty questions. Sarah tossed a Rubik’s Cube back and forth, each person solving it when it was their turn to talk.

“Do you feel anything when they brainwash you?” Peter asked, hesitantly, as he tossed the cube to her. He was curious but didn’t want to upset her either. 

“Honestly, no. It’s like I don’t even exist in my own body. All the damage gets done later.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It is what is.” 

Sarah pushed a blonde braid out of her face and tossed the cube back to him asking about how he came to live with his aunt. When the game finished, Peter left so she could shower and change before coming back in and doing the same. Sarah climbed up to the empty top bunk and he threw up a pillow and blanket. Turning off the light, Peter walked back to the bottom bunk and flopped down on it himself. 

“Too bad you can’t come on the field trip tomorrow.”

“You should ditch the field trip and come with me and Uncle Jamie. Wakanda’s science lab is so much cooler than Columbia University’s.” 

“But do they have super spiders?” Peter said in a funny voice, making Sarah guffaw. 

“No… but have you ever seen a war rhino?”

Peter sat up abruptly, almost hitting his head on the bunk. “War rhinos?” 

Sarah laughed and ignored him asking about the war rhinos. “I’m taking my hearing aids out now. Goodnight, Peter Parker.” 

“Goodnight, Sarah Rogers.”

She could hear the slight mocking but light-hearted tone in his voice and could picture him giving a fake salute. She took out the hearing aids and grabbed the bag that lay at her feet on the bed. Sarah placed the hearing aids in the front pocket and took out a mouth guard. It wasn’t something she wanted but she also didn’t explain the nightmares— she wasn't comfortable yet doing that. So Sarah bit down on the mouth guard and hoped that if she had a nightmare it would muffle any screams, allowing Peter and May to sleep in peace.


	17. Chapter 17

Sarah woke up in a sweat, sitting up abruptly. When she dipped her head over the side of the bunk she looked to see that Peter was still dead asleep. The mouth guard did its job or maybe she didn’t scream. Either way, she didn’t disturb her friend’s sleep. Sarah quietly got down from the top bunk to check her phone and saw that the time read six in the morning which for a Saturday was definitely early. 

She also saw the text from Bucky saying that he’d be there at seven. Peter still didn’t wake up as she got ready— which was just brushing her teeth, Sarah always stayed in pajamas and headscarf while getting work done in Wakanda. She took a sticky note from the cube on his desk and wrote a little note saying that she had to go and would catch him at school on Monday as well as writing a second sticky note for May. Peter’s note, Sarah stuck to his forehead— taking a picture. 

“Let’s go, hospital’s not too happy I parked the quinjet on their helipad,” Bucky said as he met his niece outside the apartment building. 

Sarah usually slept on the ride there while Bucky flew. He looked over to see her curled up in the passenger’s seat and smiled. He still couldn’t believe that Steve had a kid but was happy Sarah existed. It meant he and Steve had a life in the modern world, that they could have a life. Sarah meant that the two super-soldiers weren’t completely out of time, even if it felt like it occasionally. He shook her awake before reaching the border, knowing that seeing the entrance into Wakanda was one of her favorite things. 

T’Challa and his entire family greeted the two of them as the jet landed. Sarah yawned as she tried to greet them much to Ramonda and T’Chaka’s amusement. 

“She insisted on sleeping over at a friend’s house before coming,” Bucky said. 

“Well, you can continue sleeping in the chamber and then we get dinner.”

Shuri dragged Sarah along. She linked arms with the other girl and the two skipped to the lab not bothering to wait for the adults. Sarah smiled at all the scientists who waved back and settled into the cryo chamber for a strange death-like sleep while they worked on her brain. She opened her eyes again before they closed the lid. 

“Wait. General Okoye, can I train with you and the Dora Milaje?”

She and everyone else laughed. 

“When you get better little doll, we will gladly train you whenever you want to come to Wakanda.”

Sarah smiled and closed her eyes as the cold settled in so they could get started. The one part Sarah and Bucky weren’t excited for was when all the memories came flooding in. The scientists assured them that the nightmares themselves wouldn’t result in them screaming like Sarah tended to do now but they would be there and would probably last for a longer time. 

They could’ve gotten rid of it completely but that would involve risking brain damage to both because of how HYDRA wiped them— which was done on purpose to make it near impossible to fix them. Both Sarah and Bucky thought it wasn’t worth it, they already had nightmares now it wouldn’t matter if they still had them. 

Monday rolled around and Sarah was excited to present the mini war rhino statues to Michelle, Ned, and Peter. They no longer minded her spending on them after realizing it was just something she liked to do. If she saw something that reminded her of someone, Sarah would get it. No questions asked, nothing expected in return. Ned and Michelle would find the statues cute, only Peter would know about the fact that the war rhinos were true— he was let in on the secret of Wakanda not being a third world country like everyone thought. 

Ned jumped as Sarah slammed his locker door shut making her chuckle. She presented Ned the figurine and leaned against the locker as he talked about his weekend and how cool the field trip was to Columbia University’s science lab, until a meltdown happened and the students had to be evacuated. Both of them looked over when they spotted Peter. The pair waved but he didn’t wave back. In fact, his eyes were focused firmly on the floor and he looked rather jumpy. Peter walked right past the two of them and into his homeroom. Sarah and Ned looked at each other. 

“Wonder what’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know but he was like this yesterday too. Catch you at lunch,” Ned said as the bell rang. 

“Yeah,” Sarah said absentmindedly before walking to her homeroom separate from the two boys. 

Sarah was in Spanish class when she thought she heard something. She focused her ears on the hallway instead of what her teacher was saying and heard the mumbling of the familiar Peter. He seemed in distress. Sarah raised her hand asking to go to the bathroom, only to be denied until the tests were finished being taken up. It was only a minute but by the time she went outside she couldn’t see Peter anymore.

“Where’s Peter?” Sarah asked once she entered the cafeteria. 

“No clue. He left history after the test and haven’t seem him sense,” Ned said. 

She hummed in question but sat down anyway, sliding the war rhino statue over to Michelle at her spot that Sarah noticed was one seat closer than before. Peter wasn’t just missing from lunch Monday but for the rest of the week as well. And whenever she and Ned did catch his eye, he barely waved before getting jittery and walking off. He wasn’t hanging out after school anymore beside decathlon where he seemed stressed if he peeled his eyes from the table for a single second. 

* * *

“You see this video?” Ned turned his phone to Sarah while they waited against the lockers for the homeroom bell to ring. 

“What is it?” 

“New superhero… at least that’s what the local news is saying.” 

“New superhero?” 

It wasn’t the Avengers’ job to keep track of every enhanced or new hero. Most of them they definitely didn’t know about but S.H.I.E.L.D. did try to keep tabs as best as they could. Sarah hadn’t heard of any new heroes and no one else at the compound had said anything about it. Ned played the video and Sarah watched the newly proclaimed ‘hero’ stop the robbery of a deli. 

“Woah.” She jumped when what looked like webbing shot out from the hero’s hand and he swung around a lamp post before disappearing into the night. 

“I know right. They’re calling him Spider-man.”

“I can see why.”

“So he’s not an Avenger?”

“Nope, never seen him around the compound. It’s still just the usual line-up. Maybe he wants to stay quiet, like the old superheroes you know before Uncle Tony told the world he was Iron Man and made us public figures. He seems cool though… the suit could be better.” 

“Can you talk? You don’t even have a suit.”

Sarah faked offense. “Well my suit will be cooler when I make it.” 

The bell rang for homeroom and Sarah jumped up from the floor, extending a hand to Ned. She pulled him up with more strength than necessary, making him shriek and stumble, as payback for the suit comment. Once again, Peter was avoiding and she was starting to get really upset— borderlining anger which was a new feeling for Sarah. 

But she didn’t want to think about it because Steve and Sam were supposed to be coming home in a few days if everything went as planned. A month seemed like such a lifetime, especially considering she had missed spending Halloween with other Midtown High students because she was waiting for a call from them all night— spending the night on FaceTime undoing her braids instead of going to Flash’s party. 

Sarah caught Peter by accident in the hall one day. She had left the textbook she needed for chemistry in her locker and the teacher let her go get it. She wasn't sure what Peter was doing but Sarah was glad that whatever dragged him out there caused him to be in her path. 

“Peter Parker, why are you avoiding me and Ned? You’ve missed lunch and all our hangouts.”

He looked around realizing the hallway was empty and he couldn’t escape. Peter sighed loudly. 

“Maybe I just want some time alone.”

“Since when? We do everything together.”

“Yeah, well not everything has to be!” Peter snapped causing Sarah to step back— she still didn’t do well when people yelled at her. 

“Woah, I was just asking. Sorry I bothered you, I didn’t mean to make you upset. You just seemed so s— never mind, sorry.” 

The tears started and Peter realized he messed up. He watched the girl turn off her hearing aids and abruptly turn around, briskly walking back to class before he could call out her name. Peter kicked the locker in front of him, causing it to dent, and went back to his class. 

Sarah wasn't at decathlon practice and he knew it was bad. He immediately apologized to Ned for being off the past couple of weeks. Peter texted Sarah but got no reply back— she never had her read receipts on so he wasn’t even sure if she saw it. He had resolved himself to apologize the next day but she still wasn't there, Ned said something about her dads coming home and ditching school. 

Bucky stayed in the common room for dinner so Sarah, Sam, and Steve could have the evening with just the three of them. Sarah hugged both of them and then made them stand in the middle of the living room so she could inspect for cuts and injuries despite Steve saying they already got checked by medical. After she was satisfied that they were okay, Sarah finally let them go. Steve’s shower was as quick as he could possibly make it, knowing that Sam would take a while. 

Steve recruited Sarah to help with dinner which was spaghetti and breadsticks. As she threw the pasta into the boiling water, Steve showed her the ring for a stamp of approval. He busted out a nice bottle of red wine, which she attempted to sneak a sip. Steve quickly yanked it out from Sarah's hands. 

“Ah, ah. Underage. You get ginger ale.” 

“Do I have to lay down afterwards too?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind, Dheaidí… FRIDAY, play Earth, Wind & Fire.” 

Sam came into the kitchen, dressed nicely because Steve requested for whatever reason. He figured it was because dinner after coming back from being separated from Sarah for a month was a special occasion. He laughed as the two lights of his life danced ridiculously to ‘Boogie Wonderland’— Sarah and Steve hip bumping. Sam slid over to join the two singing the verse as loud as possible. The cooking was done as FRIDAY moved onto Frank Sinatra per Sam’s request and lowered the volume. 

“I know we were gone for a month but why are you grinning so much?” Sam asked Sarah. 

“No reason.” 

Steve nudged his daughter's foot underneath the table but she couldn’t stop grinning so she just ate another forkful of pasta. Steve asked FRIDAY to lower the volume of the music even more as he stood up. He took a sip of wine, not that it would help, and placed it on the table. Sam watched as Steve stood in front of him and asked him to stand up. It finally clicked when Steve started to lower to floor, the knowing smile on both of their faces bright enough to blind. 

“You’ve been by my side literally since we’ve met. And despite having every valid reason to bow out of this crazy life, you are still here. I’m feeling like the universe is giving me a second chance at everything since coming off ice. Especially when it comes to family and, Sam, I want you in our family officially. Will you marry me?”

Sam chuckled, “You’re always a few steps ahead of me, running man.” 

“Hmm?” 

Sam pulled out his own little box from his back pocket. Steve stood back up, grin taking up half his face, as the two switched rings. 

“I vote we make the family name Wilson-Rogers,” Sarah said. 

Both men turned to look at her to find Sarah had taken Steve’s wine glass and swirled it around. Steve raced back around to try and grab the glass from her but she quickly took a gulp. 

“Yeah, that’s what you get,” he said as Sarah's face contorted tasting the alcohol, taking the wine glass back that she readily handed over. 

“But I like that, Babydoll. Wilson-Rogers sounds nice.”


	18. Chapter 18

“Sarah Rogers!” 

The girl turned at the sound of her name but saw no one. Closing the locker door, Sarah jumped slightly as she became face to face with Peter. 

“Peter Parker,” she said with a lot less enthusiasm. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lash out at you.” 

“I know… I got your text.” 

“Can I talk to you? I know you have this free.”

“Don’t you have class, though?”

“It’s a test. Took it yesterday.” 

“They let you do that?”

“I told them I had a dentist’s appointment this period. Please?”

“We can’t wait till lunch?”

“I don’t want you upset for a moment longer.” 

Sarah sighed and walked with him to wherever he was leading which turned out to be underneath the bleachers on the football field. She stood there patiently as Peter gathered his thoughts. 

“I didn’t mean to snap at you and Ned. It wasn’t anything you did, I promise. I really like hanging out with you. A lot.”

“Then why have you be—”

“I’m Spider-man!” 

Sarah blinked, opening her mouth before closing it. “What?” 

“The meltdown at Columbia, yeah, the super spider and I got bit and it’s so weird like I have super powers spider senses and everything and watch!”

Peter put his hands up on the bottom of the bleacher and then brought his feet up as well, sticking to it before crawling along the underside to move closer to her. 

“I— I, why didn’t you tell me? My dad is Captain America, I live with superheroes. I’m a superhero!”

Peter dropped back onto the grass. 

“I was hoping it would go away at first and then when it didn’t I guess I just went with it but… I’m not an Avenger, you would’ve…”

“Thought my best friend is cool. You don’t have to fight aliens or go every other month to a HYDRA base. Queens needs their own hero, too.” 

“I really am sorry. It’s just— the first week was more stressful than I thought.”

“Welcome to crime fighting… when you say spider senses, the web shooting? Is that... is that coming from you?”

“Oh, no, no. Web fluid, designed it myself. Just kind of worked with the whole spider thing.” 

“Oh thank goodness, I mean not that there would be anything wrong with— no, no it would be a little weird. Apology accepted. I’m going to hug you now, Peter Parker.” 

He chuckled and opened his arms for Sarah to embrace him. 

“Can we not tell anybody. I don’t think I’m ready for the world to know who Spider-man is.” 

“Alright. I won’t say a word. Not to Ned, or my dads, or S.H.I.E.L.D.” 

“Thank you.” 

Luckily, Ned had accepted Peter back without question so the three musketeers plus Michelle were back. It was more like Charlie’s Angels, Michelle obviously the aloof Charlie. She walked with them— Michelle was only there because she was catching the bus that day and the stop was on the other three's pathway. Sarah turned when Michelle had paused, finally reaching the bus stop. 

“MJ. If I asked you to come to Hamilton with us would you say yes?”

“I—”

“You wouldn’t even have to sit next to us.”

MJ gave a half smile and nodded. 

“Two seats apart. I’m not letting you sit any further from us.”

She held up her hands in surrender. Sarah, Ned, and Peter stopped at the bodega when she felt two vibrations on the tile floor that felt different from the normal pounding of everyone around. She turned to catch the candy bar that almost hit her in the face. Ned and Peter also turned and were in awe at Pietro standing in front of them. 

“Captain’s requesting you come back home.” 

“Why? Dad knows I always go to Peter’s after school.” 

“Your surprise came early.”

“Surprise?” 

“Let’s go, Doll.”

“I’m not—” 

“My doll, I know. Let’s go.” 

“Bye Ned, Peter Parker.” 

Pietro bent down so Sarah could climb on and for once she felt like she was going to throw up from the speed— regretting have eaten the snacks she just bought. Sarah got down and needed a moment to readjust before following him into the compound. The elevator stopped on the common room floor. The whole team was there and Steve stepped up to her. 

“Babydoll, I’ve got a surprise.” 

The team cleared the way and Sarah saw a small group of people she had never seen before. The eldest woman gasped as she saw the girl. 

“You have her smile.” 

“Um, hello?”

Steve squeezed Sarah's shoulders. “Your grandparents, uncle, and two aunts. Elise’s family… I’m sorry it took me so long to contact you guys.” 

“We already told you, we understand.” Elise's father waved off Steve’s third apology of the day. 

“Sarah?” 

Someone asked but she wasn't sure who. Sarah was staring at the youngest woman in the group. She was positive someone called her name again and didn’t become aware until Steve was wiping at tears and panicking. The woman cleared her throat. 

“She didn’t know… I’m Taylor. Elise’s twin sister, identical. We’re so sorry, sweetie, this must be very overwhelming. We can leave.” 

Sarah shook her head, stopping them in their tracks. The team slowly cleared out until it was just Sarah's family— Steve, Sam, and Bucky stayed at the dining room table while Sarah made her way to the couch. Steve didn’t realize that Elise had never told the girl about her family, if he knew he would have warned Sarah about her sister but as they watched from the table she was taking it all in stride. Her grandparents took out pictures of her mother and Elise's siblings told Sarah stories of their childhood. She enjoyed the stories, despite not being very open with it— they all understood. 

“Just like your mama. She wouldn’t even smile at me until she was five and she knew me her whole life,” her uncle, Jerome, said. 

The family exchanged numbers with Sarah and a promise to visit again when they found themselves in New York— they didn’t live in the state. They weren’t surprised by her mannerisms at all since Steve had warned them and assured Sarah nothing felt awkward on their end, they were just happy to even see her. Happy to know they had some part of Elise since they were never getting her back. Sarah gave them each a hug, lingering on her Aunt Taylor a little longer by accident. She kissed the top of her hair. 

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I know it hurts.” She looked over to the three men at the table that tried to act like they weren’t listening. 

“But at least you’ve got a great family here. You’ve done a fantastic job, Captain Rogers.” 

Sarah finally let her go and watched the elevator doors close. She looked over at Steve, Sam, and Bucky smiling in appreciation. 

* * *

Bucky entered the kitchen unsure why everyone was snickering. Sarah and Clint ate their cereal at the kitchen island, immediately making Bucky suspicious. He asked if there was something on him and that just made everyone laugh harder. He looked around and his eyes finally landed on the magnets stuck to his arm that Sarah and Clint had put there while he was sleeping. It spelled out **Ham4Ham** vertically on his arm underneath the red star in honor of them going to the show that evening.

“You two are immature, especially you Clint. Aren’t you a damn adult… why is it not coming off?” He pulled at the magnets. 

Tony pulled out his phone to record Bucky’s struggle. 

“Hey! Both of you, what the hell did you guys…”

Sarah and Clint both took out their hearing aids, placing them on the island, and went back to eating cereal. Sam had to take a lap around the common room at the synchronized action. Bucky looked at the two of them, eyes squinted.

_What did you guys use to put—_

Sarah and Clint closed their eyes. Bucky’s mouth dropped open. 

“Steve, Sam, get your daughter!” 

Eventually Sarah felt bad torturing her Uncle Jamie, and didn’t have much more time for breakfast before having to finish getting ready for school. She told him it was superglue and no she wouldn’t help him take it off until after the show. Tony and even Bruce told him they weren’t gonna help either so he had no choice but to wear the magnets to the show. 

The tickets were for decent seats but the minute word got out about Sarah and other Avengers wanting to see the show, the cast offered backstage access if they showed up early. The amount of pictures they took were abundant and after enjoying the pre-show haze, they went to find their seats. Michelle was two seats down and when Steve went to ask Sarah, Peter, and Ned just told him that it was her thing. He looked at Sam and Bucky who seemed just as confused by this form of friendship but if it worked for the kids they guess it worked. 

“I like it so far,” Bucky said when intermission rolled around. He and Sam hadn’t listened to the soundtrack before the show. 

“Just wait,” MJ said since he had no idea the show was about to get sad. 

When Steve came back with the snacks, Sarah spent the rest of intermission trying to convince him to let her friends sleep over. He argued that he was already getting the other kids home late on a school night which only made her argument stronger that it made sense for everyone to just head to the compound so they can sleep quicker.

“They don’t even have— you kids all have stuff to sleep over don’t you?” Steve asked. 

MJ, Ned, and Peter held up their backpacks that contained mini sleep-away kits tucked behind their textbooks. Steve sighed and gave in while Bucky muttered how Steve was so soft. 

“You’ll be the same, Bucky.” 

“If he can even find someone willing to procreate with him,” Sam snorted. Sarah high-fived him much to the exasperation of Steve and Bucky. 

While Steve agreed that the others could sleep over, he was hard pressed that the kids could only stay up for a little while longer and not to try and push it because he can hear them from his and Sam’s room. 

“Where are the kids? Did Happy take them? It’s a little early isn’t it?” Sam asked the next morning when Bucky and Steve came in from their run as he poured coffee. 

“No?”

“They weren’t in Sarah’s room. Her bed looks like it hasn’t even been touched.” 

Steve started to walk and the other two men followed. Sarah joked around and pushed the line with Steve sometimes but one thing she didn’t do was sneak out, he was sure of that. The three men looked at the empty room, Steve already thinking of punishments, until they heard a snore. Walking to the bathroom, they opened the door to see the four kids in the tub with a large comforter draped over them. 

MJ’s head was on Sarah's shoulder, Ned’s head on Peter, Sarah's feet were tucked under Peter’s leg and one of her hearing aids was on the floor. Peter’s head was titled all the way back and his arm was dangling over the tub ledge while both Ned and MJ were halfway out of the comforter. Both Sarah and Michelle’s bonnets were not on properly and Steve, Sam, and Bucky were struggling to hold in the laughter as they saw the bonnets on Ned and Peter’s heads as well. 

“This is why I said don’t stay up late,” Steve said but none of them stirred. 

He walked over and knocked on the ledge of the tub and they all jolted awake, wiping at the sleep in their eyes and drool from the corner of their mouths. Steve laughed and reminded them all that they still had to get ready for school. It didn’t take long for them all to get dressed and eat before hopping in the car.

* * *

Peter’s Spider-man act wasn’t terribly dangerous yet, but Sarah couldn’t help but worry about him. She desperately wanted to tell Steve or Tony or somebody because it would make her feel better if Peter had resources to S.H.I.E.L.D. but she respected his wishes. So she waited on the top bunk of Peter’s room and refused to go to sleep until he got back— Steve was mortified when he was told about the first time she slept over at Peter’s without Ned or MJ being present, however after she and Bucky talked to him, he came around especially since the two were just friends. 

Sarah almost screamed when Peter came in on the ceiling, forgetting he could do that. He dropped to the floor and changed. She jumped down from the top bunk. 

“What are you doing?” Peter asked.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” 

“No. I got kicked in the ribs but I’m fine.” 

“Okay.”

“Are you going to let go of me so we can sleep?” 

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry, goodnight.” 

It was a relief to get up at a decent time on Saturday with Sarah and Bucky’s treatment being over. Bucky was happy to get off of probation and go back on missions. Sarah was happy that she could become an official team member. But currently, she was more happy that she didn’t have to leave Peter’s house early in the morning and instead could have breakfast and just relax on the couch. When she got home, Sarah immediately ran to Tony and Bruce’s lab. 

“Hey, there’s our little tinkerer… Tinkerbell!”

“I’m sorry, what, Uncle Tony?” 

“You’ve got the whole diamond skin, pixie thing going. Your superhero title.”

“Tony, that’s trade-marked,” Bruce said as he returned to his file. 

“Yeah, Uncle Bruce, because that’s the problem with name,” Sarah muttered as she sat on top of her lab table and pulled out her sketchpad. 

She began thinking of the suit and how functional it needed to be for her. The only thing Sarah was sure of was that she wanted to incorporate a star somewhere so she could match Steve. She pulled up the print that Tony had of Steve’s suit and decided to modify it from there. 

Every now and then, as Sarah sketched Tony would call out a potential superhero nickname only for either her or him to shut it down. So far he had called out: Baby America, Diamond, Cadet America— brought back to her misfortune, Gemstone, and Echo. Echo because Sarah's detecting vibrations trick reminded him a lot of echolocation especially since she had been learning how to make it stronger and for non moving items. Gemstone was currently the favorite. 

Sarah finished the sketch and held it up for Bruce and Tony to look over. It was a sleek suit that she wanted made out of a material kind of like Nat’s. It was in all white and sleeveless with a large hood— she added the big pink star on the back. Sarah also sketched fingerless gloves in pink and silver, like Tony’s Iron Man gloves but with the blasters also shaped like stars. She had a thought about modifying how her diamond skin worked and if it went well, the gloves would help her control and use it. 

“And then of course a stealth suit like Dheaidí which is this but in all black and the star would be an even darker black. What do you think?” 

“Looks good G.I.”

“It’s very functional for you, Sarah.” 

Sarah beamed at Bruce and Tony’s praises, excited to get to work.


	19. Chapter 19

School was interesting the day after the press conference. Sarah had been introduced to the world once again when the holidays were over. Only instead of being Sarah Rogers aka America’s Darling, she was the newest member of the Avengers: Gemstone. The PR team also chose this moment in order to overshadow the announcement of Steve and Sam in case of backlash. Sarah became the talk of school again much to her detriment. 

She had enjoyed how the hype had died down around her but now it flared up like the first day of school again. MJ, Ned, and Peter didn’t appreciate how people suddenly surrounded their table. Sarah tried to answer any questions she could, having to tell them that a lot of what they were asking was classified so she can’t give any answers. 

Sarah felt nothing but relief when they left to go to Peter’s— MJ still not fully on board coming home with them, it might take till senior year but Sarah was determined to bring her into the squad completely. Even if it involved more nights like Hamilton where she’d see the logic in sleeping over and reluctantly agree. 

“I’m surprised you don’t have to go home.” 

“We set strict boundaries. I’m Midtown student Sarah Rogers first and Avenger second and besides, I already train before school anyway…you got number four wrong.” She peeked at Ned’s chem homework. 

He looked down and erased it. “Oh thanks, yeah that shouldn’t be there.”

“And it’s a Friday. I’m on vacation unless there’s a mission. The weekend is my time to thrive!” 

Sarah made a funny gesture causing both boys to laugh. May let the kids eat pizza in Peter’s room and actually have the apartment to themselves for a good chunk of the night because she had a date— also because she was positive the three of them wouldn’t do anything with her all of a sudden being gone for an hour or two. Peter looked at his bed. 

“There’s only two bunks,” he said. 

Usually they never slept over all three at Peter’s house but at Ned’s and whenever it was going to be at Peter’s either Sarah or Ned couldn’t stay over. 

“That’s fine, you and Ned can share,” Sarah said. 

Ned pulled the pizza slice from the girl's hand. “Um, I’m an only child, I don’t share. And Peter’s bed is too small for us both.” 

“We’re all only children,” Peter said. “My house, you two share.” 

“Dude, I just said your bed is too small for me and you, what difference would it make being me and Sarah?” 

Peter sighed because Ned wasn’t exactly wrong. He looked to Sarah but she stayed quiet because she was glad Ned found a reason he couldn’t share with her either. Sarah cut him off as he opened his mouth. 

“I’m not sleeping on the floor.”

“I was gonna ask if you wanted to share!”

“… I get nightmares,” Sarah admitted to them. She continued talking when both boys stayed silent. 

“That’s why I’m worried about sharing, I don’t want to wake either of you up. They can get, um, pretty bad… all HYDRA stuff.” 

“I mean there’s no guarante—”

“About five times a week. They’re slowly calming down, it used to be every night… my Uncle Jamie and I usually help each other relax enough to go back to sleep.” 

“How?” Ned asked. 

“Tea, candles… face masks.” 

Ned and Peter looked at each other and then back to Sarah. 

“We do so much of our stuff I forget how soft you are. May’s got all those things.” 

“Would she mind?” 

“Probably not. I’ll replace it for her later.” 

Peter stood up to get the stuff while Sarah and Ned got ready for bed. Her giant pink t-shirt with matching shorts and long socks added even more to Ned and Peter’s perception of her ‘softness’ as Peter put it. 

“This is… different,” Ned said. “But a kind of good different.”

Sarah directed Ned and Peter to lay down on the floor with the face masks on as the scent of vanilla from May’s candle wafted through the air. The soft music from Swan Lake played on her phone. They followed Sarah's guidance in how to pat in the essence of the sheet masks after taking them off and then the three of them sipped tea. Sitting on the bottom bunk with Peter, Sarah plugged her phone into the charger and propped it up against the wall to call Steve who was on a mission. The two boys stayed quiet as she talked to her dad. 

“Hey, Babydoll.” 

“Hi, Dheaidí. Is that a black eye?”

“It’ll be gone by the morning. Sam already chewed me out.”

“You weren’t wearing your helmet were you?” Sarah asked as she started to braid her hair in big braids for bed. 

“Who’s the parent here? How was school? Didn’t you say you had an essay that you turned in Monday.” 

“Yeah, World War II history paper. Uncle Jamie had lots of stories, got a 94.”

“Buck helped you, isn’t that cheating?”

“Dheaidí, what’s my IQ?”

“194 and you don’t let me forget it, Sarah.”

“So I probably would’ve done well on the paper anyway. Besides, it wasn’t cheating. It’s called using primary sources. Mine was just super fresh and alive… should’ve gotten a 97. I’ll give Mrs. Morcei the three points on grammar but she docked me cause she says one of the stories was ‘unlikely’— you know the one about your enlistment forms and the day before he got shipped out. Like, I didn’t grill Uncle Jamie on and off for seventeen hours while he’s stalking some agent in the Alps for a fake story. It would’ve taken me less time to make shit up.”

“Language.”

“Make something up. I mean were you there Mrs. Morcei? No, he might be ninety-nine technically but he’s not geriatric. I think the James Buchanan Barnes remembers the war he fought in and the time period. Not everything was sorrow all the time, Mrs. Morcei, we get it the whole thing was depressing but people still tried to live their lives. She’s just mad that it took some of the glamorization from war. But I’m not bitter or whatever since I still got the A you know.”

Steve chuckled at Sarah's tangent. Moments like this with her were his favorite. Sarah never noticed how passionate she got when discussing anything academic but would just talk and talk. He felt like maybe this was what her mother was like, that he was getting glimpses of Elise. And Sarah talk uninhibited, a part of that was because it was just Steve. But another part was because when Sarah started explaining things to him it was with such blind focus it was like she forgot all her problems. She wasn't tormented by HYDRA memories, on the verge of a breakdown at any moment if something triggered it. She was just his little girl sharing her school day. He watched her finish the braid she had started while moving on to a new chem topic that he’s sure he’s heard Bruce talk about at some point. Sarah reached into her bag and pulled out a silk pillowcase, handing it to Peter. 

“What’s this for?” Peter asked, suddenly reminding Steve that she was at a friend’s house. 

“You need to change out the pillowcase. The cotton one could break off my hair. I’m trying to be the next Rapunzel and you kind of need the length for that.” 

“I thought that was what the bonnet you normally bring was for. Do I have to change the pillowcase? It was actually a struggle to put this one on.”

“I didn’t bring it this time, didn’t want to wear it. Stop complaining, not my fault you won’t sleep on the floor. Use my pillow, you need to change the case. I thought hosts were supposed to be accommodating? Please.”

“It’s my pillow. You’re in my bed, my house. And fine, only cause you said please.” 

Sarah gave Peter a dazzling smile that he rolled his eyes at before taking the pillowcase from her hand that had been outstretched with it for the entire conversation. Steve’s eyebrows furrowed as he watched— mainly heard— the scene unfold. 

“Babydoll? Peter?”

Peter leaned in so he was in the small frame of the phone. “Yes, Mr. Rogers?” 

“Same pillow?” Steve was going to be vague about it but he didn’t know himself exactly what he was inquiring about. 

“Yeah, we’re sharing his tiny bed with only one pillow. Who only has one pillow?” 

“Why do you need to sleep with multiple pillows?” Peter countered. 

“Sharing the bed?!” Steve was a little louder than he meant to be. 

Sarah took the phone off of the charger and just leaned out of the bottom bunk to stick the phone in the air. Steve was suddenly face to face with Ned on the top bunk, waving enthusiastically.

“Hi, Mr. Rogers.” 

“Hello, Ned.” 

Sarah brought the phone back to the bottom level. 

“There’s just not enough room, Dheaidí. Nothing weird. Strictly G-rated, platonic bed-sharing…”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that because it makes me feel worse.”

“Does it help that you know Ned is on the top bunk?” 

“A little… Ned, don’t leave the room until morning,” Steve called out.

“Yes sir, Captain Rogers, sir,” Ned said in the most serious tone. 

Steve sighed and Sarah turned the phone for him to see that there seriously wasn’t room and there were only two beds. He breathed out a sigh of relief that Peter was wearing a shirt, knowing lots of men slept without shirts. 

“Even if I was mad, I can’t exactly do anything from over here. I’m trusting you, Sarah.” 

“Thank you. I promise nothing funny.” 

“Alright, goodnight Babydoll. Goodnight Ned, Peter.” 

“Night Mr. Rogers.”

“Goodnight, Dheaidí.” 

Sarah and Steve blew each other kisses and then Sarah was met with the image of herself looking back at her. Sarah locked the phone and set it down, flopping onto the pillow. It took a minute and multiple tries for her and Peter to try and find a comfortable sleeping position. 

“This isn’t working,” she said with a huff. 

“We’re going to have to touch.” 

“Yeah, I know. How do you like to sleep?”

“Fetal position on my left side or on my back usually.”

“Hmm, I’m not spooning you but I do sleep on my stomach.”

Peter laid back down and Sarah moved to be on top of him. The two of them breathed out in relaxation together, finally comfortable. Sarah didn’t mind that one of his hands was resting on her upper back considering that’s how he normally slept. If the two of them could crane their necks even further in the opposite directions to avoid each other then they would. 

“So I didn’t have to change the pillowcase after all.”

Sarah lifted her head to look at him.

“I’m just saying, your head isn’t even on it anymore… seriously?”

Sarah had looked him dead in the eyes as she removed her hearing aids. 

“Sleep, Peter Parker. We should both sleep.” 

“Okay.”

“Goodnight, Pete. Goodnight, Ned.” Sarah lowered her head back down as the boys said their goodnights and drifted off to sleep. 

Peter’s spider senses woke him up before he himself was aware of what was happening. He heard the soft whimper and felt Sarah's body tense up on top of his. Peter turned his head to see her face, eyes shut tight and he could see her face contorted in pain. The hand that was on her back gently shook Sarah while he softly called her name. Sarah's eyes opened and she looked around in panic— she was never fully out of the dream when she woke up. 

“Hey, hey. You’re okay,” Peter said softly. 

“I woke you up. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” 

“It’s fine. Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?” 

“I… it was just another HYDRA dream, it’s nothing.” 

“Up.” 

Sarah got up and walked with him into the kitchen. He filled up two glasses with water and took out a large jar of skittles that May had stored in the cupboard. Sarah thanked him as he handed her a glass and sat down at the dining room table, turning his chair to face hers. The two of them sipped on water and ate skittles in silence. Sarah held up a skittle and threw it at him, Peter catching it in his mouth. He did the same and that was the new way the two ate. Sarah brought her knees up to hug them. 

“It’s so hard, Peter. I don’t feel like I can win anywhere. I’m too messed up to be America’s Darling they all think they’re getting and it’s fake. It’s all fake because I’m supposed to be just like my dad. You know they’ve even tag lined my moniker? I saw it the other day. Some articles said what’s tougher than diamonds nothing, making Gemstone the perfect name for our darling. This weird strong black girl image that they knew they would get because ‘look, it’s Captain Rogers’ daughter’. I’m not my dad in a girl’s body. They made fun of my suit because it’s accented with pink. I like pink, I have long hair, and I’m sorry I don’t think punching everything like Captain America is a solution to my problems… HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers, America, the world. Even freakin’ Asgard. I don’t know how to not break myself in order to fit what people want. And I break down when I can’t fit it.

“I worked so hard to push down HYDRA so I could be an Avenger and I’m scared that even one more small slip up like at the UN and I’m done. I can’t be done, I don’t know anything else. 001, Gemstone. I know those. I don’t know who Sarah Rogers is. What’s me and what’s what they all want… I was made to be HYDRA’s doll and now it just haunts me every awful thing I’ve ever done. I’m worried I’ll never be okay, I don’t think I ever was.”

“Maybe you don’t have to be.”

“I envy you. You have what I want,” Sarah said with a yawn. “May’s kid. Student by day and superhero by night. Only one of the good guys. To just be Peter Parker. That’s what I want, to just be Sarah Elise Wilson-Rogers… I’m sorry. Oh wow, I just dumped that on you, you’re not my therapist.”

“No, but I’m your friend. I can help in my own way and I think you just needed someone to listen… and eat skittles.” He threw one for her to catch in her mouth. 

Sarah chewed it with a smile. 

“Thank you.”

Peter screwed the lid back on the jar of skittles and the two of them went back to bed.


	20. Chapter 20

“If you want to back out of the mission now, we all understand,” Steve said as they all got into position. 

“I can do this, Dheaidí. It’s like any other mission.”

“You finish your homework?”

Sarah laughed. “Is now really the time? But yeah, I finished it earlier this morning.” 

“Alright.” Steve fist-bumped her. “Move out, team.” 

Steve didn’t like to hover when it came to anything dealing with the Avengers. On missions, he was Sarah's captain not her dad. He didn’t want her to feel like he didn’t see her as an actual member of the team. However, they knew Rumlow would likely be there and that made him worry about Sarah. Everyone was in their positions: Wanda and Nat sitting at cafe tables, Sam on some rooftop, Steve in the corner room of a motel. 

Sarah was the only one with a moving position, walking around the streets of Lagos. It was funny, the stealth suit was still so different from what people were wearing on the streets yet they didn’t spare the girl a second glance for anything. Sam was using his drone, Redwing, to track a garbage truck that seemed suspicious. Sarah was stalking not too far behind. 

“That truck’s loaded for max weight and the driver’s armed,” Sam said into the comms, reading the x-ray from Redwing. 

“It’s a battering ram,” Nat said. 

“Go now.” Steve’s voice came in. “He’s not hitting the police.”

The truck battered into the barricade of the Institute for Infectious Diseases before Sarah could try and stop it. Two more trucks came from the corner and lots of men poured out. She ran in head first towards the back area since the bullets couldn’t pierce her skin. The men didn’t seem to get a clue as the ones with guns kept firing even after she started taking them out. Sam, Steve, Wanda, and Nat showed up in the front courtyard where the truck had crashed. Steve ran over to a guy on top of a van and kicked him so hard he slammed into the building. 

“Body armor. AR-15s. I got seven hostiles.” 

Sam threw another off of the smaller roof area, landing on the van with a crash. 

“I got five.”

“You guys are children…” 

Everyone heard Sarah's comm go silent minus the grunts and knew she was about to come on again with a smart remark. They heard the spray of gunfire. 

“Ow, you actually chipped my nail… Nine hostiles, I win. Back’s all cleared.”

“Alright, Wanda like we practiced,” Steve said and braced himself for Wanda to lift him into the air so he could quickly be on the sixth floor. Wanda then directed her attention to getting rid of the gases in the building. 

“Rumlow’s got a biological weapon,” Steve said. 

“I’m on it.” Nat came in on a motorcycle, throwing herself off of it and attacking a soldier. 

“What was that?” 

Sarah had heard multiple explosions that sounded like grenade launchers. Both Nat and Steve were coughing and groaning giving her an idea that they might have been hurt or at least slowed down. Steve’s voice came over the comms saying where Rumlow’s van was headed. Both Sarah and Sam headed in the direction Steve said.

“I’ve got four. They’re splitting up,” Sam said. 

Nat, who had found another motorcycle, had weaved through the crowd. “I’ve got the two on the left.” 

“They ditched their gear.” Steve had gone after the other two and stopped when he saw the crowd had gathered in a circle around something. “One of them has the payload, I’m going after.” 

Steve started to chase the ones with Nat while Sam took the two on the right. Sarah reached the area that Steve had just been in. She looked at the gear, noticing it had absolutely no dirt on it despite the fact that all of them had been fighting. 

“It’s a diversion! Nat it’s one of your—” 

Sarah felt the wind knocked out of her as she was punched so hard in her back that she actually was thrown to the ground. It was a man in some kind of metal suit, almost a crude Iron Man meets Iron Giant prototype. Sarah rolled out of the way as his boot came down trying to crush her face. The girl jumped to her feet and started blocking the low kicks he was sending her way. It was hard to land a solid punch when his arms were covered in machinery. She pulled one off but the gauntlet on his other hand whipped out a blade. Sarah ducked as he aimed, the blade breaking off the concrete wall behind them. 

Her thumb pressed a button by the knuckle of her pointer finger on her fingerless glove. The light from the star shaped reactor on her palm heated up and pulled at her skin until poking through the middle of the star was a hard, sharp diamond blade. Sarah brought her palm down over the man’s blade and it shattered on impact, freeing her from the corner she had been trapped in. She kicked him in the chest and started to stalk over to him when he removed his helmet. Sarah walked around him and picked him up by the collar, hand slipping in grip slightly when she came face to face with the man. With Rumlow. 

“I heard they fixed your brain, little doll. Why the scared look? You’re still just the little girl aren’t you? I wonder if you still shatter like porcelain…”

Sarah heard the click and looked down to see Rumlow’s thumb on the trigger of his bomb vest. She was about to scream and try to tackle him when the explosion was contained in the familiar red bubble of Wanda’s magic. Rumlow screamed as the explosion continued around him while Wanda struggled to contain it. 

She lost control and knew that she had to try and send it into the air to avoid everyone on the ground getting hurt. Unfortunately the bubble tilted slightly and Wanda didn’t just send into the air but into the top floor of a nearby building, destroying that whole corner area. Everyone ducked from the noise and blasts of fire. Wanda’s hand covered her mouth in horror. Sarah looked in shock as well. 

“Dad, Dad we need help,” Sarah's voice came out shakily. 

She pulled at Wanda’s sleeve as the two ran into the building as Sam flew overhead. The ride back in the quinjet was silent for a while. Sarah looked at the diamond blade still sticking up from one of her palms. Taking her other hand, she punched at the blade and it broke off hitting the floor with a clank. She hissed in pain as she took both gloves off drawing Steve’s attention. He switched piloting with Nat and walked over to see what the fuss was about. He looked at her palm to see a sight he never thought he would. The skin was torn in shreds and bloodied. 

“Sarah?”

“It’s how the reactor works. The laser heats up the diamond enough to pull and break it until it reforms into the blade.” 

“Are you doing that on every mission?” Steve grabbed the small first aid kit in the jet and moved to the seat next to her, pouring alcohol all over the cuts. 

“Just when necessary. I found a way to weaponize the skin, not just a diamond casing for defense. It’s a new offensive tactic.” 

“At your expense.” 

“It’ll heal in a day or two, won’t even know it happened.”

Steve frowned in disapproval. He didn’t know that’s how the gloves worked. Honestly he had never seen her take them off right after breaking off the blade. And he didn’t go on many missions with her— it was arranged that way that Sarah, Sam, and Steve tried not to take too many high-stakes missions with each other for fear of being distracted and overly concerned with the other’s safety. 

* * *

Wanda and Sarah sat in Wanda's room, eyes glued to the television where the news was playing the incident on repeat. Sarah cringed even more when King T’Chaka appeared, the country that had helped her and Bucky so much had suffered casualties in the explosion. Steve heard the noise of the TV and walked to where the two were. 

“I’m sorry I made you step in,” Sarah apologized to Wanda. “I froze and put us all in danger.” 

“It doesn’t matter. It became my fault when I couldn’t control it.” 

Steve grabbed the remote that had been flung towards the door and turned off the TV making both of the young women look at him. 

“This isn’t good for either one of you. We can’t make it clean every time,” Steve said as he sat down on the edge of the bed. 

“No,” Wanda started. “But this one was preventable.”

“Our line of work, we try to save as many people as we can. You dwell on this and you’ll never get out of it. If we can’t make peace with not saving everybody, maybe next time we save no one.”

Before any of them could speak, they heard the weird noise as Vision stepped through the wall. 

“Vis! We talked about this,” Wanda said. 

“Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that… Captain, you wanted to know when Mr. Stark arrived from his convention.” 

“Thank you, we’ll be right down. Come on, girls.” 

“I’ll use the door. Oh and he brought some guests.” 

“Who?”

“The Secretary of State and Task Force Commander of the CIA.” 

They walked downstairs where the other Avengers were gathered around a conference table. Holograms with various world leaders and their staff were pulled up behind everyone. The two government men shook hands with Sarah, Steve, and Wanda. 

“Thaddeus Ross and Everett Ross,” the secretary introduced the two of them. 

“That’s not confusing,” Sarah muttered. 

“Don’t mind her,” Steve covered as he directed her to the seat next to Bucky. “Teenagers, you know.” 

“Completely understand.”

“You have kids too?”

“Oh, no. Would never.” 

Steve sat down as Secretary Ross began to talk to all of them. The holograms mumbling in approval here and there. It started off with the flattery of how the Avengers had been working so hard to save the world and that was something they were all grateful for. The bombshell hit as a fat stack of papers was plopped onto the table. 

“We all agree you are heroes. However without control some see you all as vigilantes.”

“What would you use, Mr. Secretary?” Nat asked.

“Dangerous. What does it look like if a group of US-based—”

“Cap’s the only official affiliated with America. And a good chunk of this team not American or fully,” Tony spoke up from his chair in the corner.

“Well it’s not a good look. US-based enhanced operatives that routinely ignore sovereign borders to inflict their will— we understand that you are the only ones who can do it and we’re grateful. But it’s not a good look. New York, DC, Sokovia, and now Lagos. So we’ve met at the UN—”

“You discussed us at the UN without us being present?” Rhodey asked. 

“Well it was just a precursory—”

“So that’s a yes?” 

“Colonel Rhodes, if you please… thank you. We met and it’s been agreed that S.H.I.E.L.D. should become a division of the UN. We’ve labelled it as the Accords.”

“The Accords?” Tony asked. 

“Yes, the Sokovia Accords. It would allow the Avengers to work around the world without the backlash. A more sanctioned superhero team. Like the Navy Seals but for the entire world. We’re just bringing you under a more official signature.” He pointed to the stack of paper and produced a pen for them all to start signing. 

“That looks like it’s saying more than just that, Mr. Secretary,” Sarah said. “And you don’t sign a contract without reading it first.”

“It’s approved by 117 countries already.” 

“That’s still 76 countries and 2 non-member observer states.” 

“One. The Vatican signed, it’s a majority anyway.”

“With all due respect, majority once agreed slavery was fine, the Crusades were okay, mass genocide of indigenous people… I think we should read the contract.” 

Sarah reached over and grabbed the fat stack. Both Rosses looked at each other and Everett Ross crossed his arms. 

“Little wise-crack, isn’t she,” he said to the secretary as he chuckled uncomfortably. 

“Team’s got a sassy teen on their hands.”

“That’s a microaggression,” Sarah said deadpan, causing the team and some of the holograms to laugh. She passed the stack to Pietro and his fingers flew through the pages in under thirty seconds. 

“It’s house arrest,” Pietro said. He pointed to a paragraph for Steve to look at. 

“We would only be deployed by the panel when and if deemed necessary,” he read. “Do you know how long it takes for you all to make a single decision? No chance.” 

“Captain.”

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place.”

“Then tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now.” 

“Our last contact was when they left for Asgard for an Asgardian mission, not any Earthly jurisdiction.” 

“And why haven’t we had communication since… that’s right their comms went down. Or did they take themselves off grid?” 

“That’s speculation,” Nat said. “And if I remember the position you hold Mr. Secretary used to belong to a HYDRA operative. I don’t think the government could’ve done anything about it without us.” 

“Three days from now, the meeting is being held in Vienna to ratify it. Talk it over.”

“And what if we come to a decision you don’t like?”

“Then you retire.” 

The secretary and Ross walked out. The holograms behind them slowly turned off as well. Sam sighed when it was just the team. 

“Let’s say we agree to this thing? How long before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?” 

Rhodey drummed his fingers against the table. “I don’t know. 117 countries want to sign this.” 

“You can’t keep playing both sides.”

“I have an equation,” Vision spoke, making the team all look at him. 

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. During the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.”

“Are you saying it’s our fault?” Steve asked a bit defensively. 

“I’m saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge and challenge incites conflict and conflict breeds catastrophe.” 

Sarah shook her head. 

“I know you have JARVIS and Ultron and all that Vis but you’re still new to the world. It doesn’t always work like that.”

“But the equation.”

“Then how do you explain the 1940s? The 90s? Asgard? It’s a correlation but correlation isn’t always causation. Before Dheaidí was announced as Captain America, HYDRA was already in full force. The Red Skull was already trying to use the Tesseract. And then when he was iced, they worked on Uncle Jamie despite no known enhanced threat. There’s always going to be danger. Some people in the universe are just… like that. Whether we’re public or not.”

“This document just shifts blame,” Steve said. “I don’t see why they need us underneath them just for the same damage to ensue.”

“I’m sorry, Steve, but that is dangerously arrogant,” Rhodey said with a scoff. “This is the United Nations we’re talking about.” 

“Another government body run by people with agendas that are always changing. I thought I had stopped being a dancing monkey in 1943. This is us surrendering our right to choose, what happens when they send us out on something we don’t agree with and with more firepower than necessary?” 

“Tony, you are being uncharacteristically silent,” Nat noted. 

“It’s because he’s already made up his mind,” Steve said. 

“You can’t be serious Uncle Tony! _You_ told the world you were Iron Man.”

“Yeah and maybe that was a mistake.” 

Tony pulled up a picture and began to tell them all about running into some boy’s mother at his convention. A boy who died in Sokovia.

“He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. But we’ll never know because we dropped a building on his head while we were kicking ass in Sokovia… we need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I’m game.”

“Tell that to the military,” Sarah muttered. 

“What?”

“Do they get checked when they bomb any country they please? Full of just civilians? No one cares when they ignore whole genocides because they have countries to run. You think they’ll ever get around to sending the Avengers out to deal with a threat? When they have what they consider bigger issues?” 

“G.I…”

“No! We’re the closest immediate help people have. How many things have we solved in a week that would’ve taken a single country months, years if they had to cooperate with others.”

“And then what happens to kids like Charles Spencer, is he supposed to just dodge buildings for the rest of his life? And every other person that was gonna do something until we made them collateral damage, every other child? What happens then?”

“I’M WHAT HAPPENS! Don’t start talking about potential and children because none of you notice! No one ever notices and we’re the poor ones who suffer and die every damn day while countries decide they have more important business. Where would I be if S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t chosen to conduct their own search and rescue? Because you know that base was on UN files, did you know that? I could’ve used the Avengers a lot earlier in my life and now you want to throw that all away and be a desk lackey! The kids like me? Without the Avengers, try to find a new way to kill themselves every day and rather have a building dropped on them in a failed rescue knowing at least someone gave a damn because their countries sure didn’t… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t—” 

“G.I.?”

“I didn’t mean to yell, I’m sor— I have homework, um, MJ’s supposed to call about our chem lab, I should go… I should go.” 

Sarah ran from the conference room back to the apartment while the others looked on in shock. Steve dropped the Accords, not concerned with discussion any more. He knew the homework was Sarah's poor lie to leave, they had discussed it earlier. 

“You all can figure it out,” he said as they watched him get up from the chair. “FRIDAY, Sarah’s location.” 

He didn’t like to spy on Sarah with the AI but right now was an absolute priority. 

“She’s in her room, Captain Rogers.”

Steve knocked gently on her door. “I’m coming in, Babydoll.” 

Steve entered to see Sarah curled up on the bed over the duvet, sniffling. He sat down, rubbing circles on her shoulder as she cried. She hadn’t looked at him at all since he entered, eyes focused on some random spot on the duvet. Steve got up to get her a glass of water and get her headscarf. Sarah was limp when Steve pulled her arm to lift her up. He wiped her face with a napkin and handed her the glass of water to drink while he put on the headscarf for her. Sam showed up, staying in the doorway for a moment until Sarah nodded for him to come in.

“I know you don’t like to, sweetie, but for once I’m gonna push you a little to talk about it.” 

Sam sat down on the other side of the bed and Sarah was sandwiched in between him and Steve, all three of their backs against the mountain of pillows and the headboard. Both men stayed quiet and stared ahead at the straw icosidodecahedrons that were hanging from the ceiling. Sarah sighed and it was quiet again for a moment, the two of them giving her all the time she needed. 

“First time was after they killed mom. And the guards just laughed because everyone knew it wouldn’t work. As long as they kept me away from anything ingestible, it was fine and it became a show to them almost.” 

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Sam said as he glanced down at her. 

“I almost got it to work, came close that one time. The same day S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up, if Director Fury was maybe two or three minutes later.”

Sarah flopped her head onto Sam’s shoulder.

“My nails are diamonds too but not as strong, it’s malleable if I really try. Spent days filing them into talons, diamonds can cut diamonds right. Do you know how hard it is to claw out your own throat…”

Both men looked over her head at each other. 

“Can I have some tea?” 

“What kind?” Steve asked.

“The sleeping mix Uncle Jamie makes.” 

Steve patted Sarah's knee and got up.

“Tony’s decision really hurt you, didn’t it?” 

“Do you think anyone would have come if S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t, Dad?” 

Sam sighed. “If it was already on files and they hadn’t already… probably not, sweetie.” 

Steve could hear them talking as he came back with the tea.

“I just can’t support something that would’ve left me and others like me. Thank you, Dheaidí.” 

Downstairs, tension had died. Bucky sat back in the chair. 

“Way to go, Stark.”

“Did you know?” Nat asked Bucky. 

“Yes. And she’s right, it was on UN files. But it was a low operating facility, not very high up on their priorities.”

“That wasn’t a priority?” 

“Somali Civil War, Al-Qaeda, their whole War on Terror campaign were a few things they considered more important. They operate slow… it made it easy to take them out back in the day.” 

Tony rubbed his face in exasperation. “I didn’t mean to— we still need regulations, if we just do what we please we’re no better than the bad guys. We have made some very public mistakes.” 

Nat conceded. 

“Maybe Tony’s right. If we have one hand on the wheel we can still steer, we need to win their trust back. But Sarah and Steve are right too. We take these Accords lying down and we’re doing a disservice to civilians. It’s not just government trust we’re held to, it’s the people we’re actually saving.” 

Sarah and Steve stayed up late that night. Sam was already tucked onto his side of the bed, Sarah and Steve were sitting on the other side. She needed her parents and Steve wasn’t leaving Sarah in the state she was in. 

“Go to bed, Babydoll. The whole team will discuss this in the morning.” 

“Goodnight.”

They kissed each other on the cheek and Sarah curled up on him. Bucky came in later, he would’ve knocked on the door but it was already open. He came in and handed Steve the Accords along with a highlighter and a pen. 

“Tony still wants to go through with it, on better terms.” 

Steve nodded and took the Accords, positioning them so he could read them while Sarah was still curled up in his arms. Bucky gave them both one last pitiful look before retiring to his room for the night. The phone vibrated and Steve looked over to read a text saying Peggy had just passed in her sleep. He sighed and set down the phone, turning to the Accords and was marking up points he disagreed with and what needed to be changed. He had a lot to deal with in the morning.


	21. Chapter 21

Sarah sat in the front pew while Sam, Bucky, and Steve assisted in carrying Peggy’s casket into the church. She moved over so the three men could sit down after. The whole affair was solemn yet not heavy with sadness. It was about the achievements that Peggy had achieved throughout her lifetime. The church slowly emptied out leaving just Sarah's family. Nat came in a little later. 

“I’m sorry to do this to you, Steve and Bucky, I know you’d rather just mourn but the jet’s outside for Vienna.” 

“We have a job to do. Let’s go.”

The conference was already starting on rocky footing as the leaders of countries looked through the Accords and the marks that Steve had made. They were pleased at the announcement of signing until they saw the copies of the new Accords being handed out. 

“We notice a lack of Miss Rogers’ signature,” one of the leaders said. 

“She’s a minor, my signature is enough for both of us as her parent. Take it or leave it but you are not holding a minor to your world council.”

Murmurs but eventual agreement on that point. Sarah zoned out as the Avengers kept going back and forth, some points were agreed to immediately, others were marked as needing to be returned to towards the end of the meeting for further discussion. 

A recess was held— Tony calling it despite not being in a position to, but everyone agreed that one was needed anyway. Bucky went to get Sarah a soda and pretzels from the vending machine like she asked. She stood with Nat at the large glass windows and stared at the outside down below. T’Challa, a welcomed face, came up to them. 

“I suppose none of us are used to the spotlight,” T’Challa said.

“It’s not always flattering,” Nat gave a dry chuckle. 

T’Challa shrugged and looked at Sarah. “At least you get to miss school.” 

“I think I’d rather be giving my oral report in English class than staring at all these leaders… or in Shuri’s lab.”

“Ah. Ah, you two cause trouble.” 

“Only to you.” 

He turned back to Nat. “The two of them together, nothing but problems. It’s like I have two sisters, Shuri’s found her long lost twin.” 

Natasha laughed and continued her talk with T’Challa about the Accords. He agreed more with the newer version that the Avengers were pushing for, stating he didn’t care about the politics of it all. Sarah went back to looking out the window. 

She meant it, the oral report she was missing would be less intimidating— she didn’t like how they kept trying to ask her questions, everyone else on the team kept answering for her. King T’Chaka came up as well. They both heard Nat ask T’Challa what about the politics he wasn’t a fan of. 

“I find that two people in a room can get more done than a hundred,” T’Challa said. 

“Unless you need to move a piano,” King T’Chaka leaned down and whispered to Sarah, making the girl laugh. 

The intercom came on to announce that the talks were starting again. They agreed to leave Sarah alone and let her stay by the window per her and Steve’s request. Sarah had turned off her hearing aids until it was King T’Chaka’s turn to speak, wanting to hear him talk but also because she had respect for him. She watched the people get to and from wherever they had to go. Vienna seemed nice, the people seemed nice and very relaxed. They strolled along to their next destination, so different from the busyness of New York. Even the cars seemed more relaxed, she thought as she watched the news van pull up across the street. A dog started barking, breaking the relaxing Vienna that Sarah had created. She watched the dog’s owner pull him back. 

It was a German Shepard and then Sarah paid attention to the owner attached to the leash… a police officer. She saw another cop approach the area and then noticed how the news van that had pulled up wasn’t parked on the same side of the street as the others. Everyone was avoiding the barking dog, not that Sarah blamed them. Except for a couple, sitting at the outdoor cafe where the van had parked in front of. She squinted and looked at them closer when the woman lowered the mug she had been sipping from. The brown bob was a new look but she knew that face, Sarah thought she knew that face. Her eyes darted between the woman and the van. She was watching it with intensity and Sarah's eyes widened. 

“Everybody get down!” Sarah yelled, facing the conference room again as they all stared at her. “Bomb!”

As soon as the word left Sarah's mouth, the whole area exploded— glass spilling into the conference room. She watched in horror as T’Challa clutched his father’s body when the smoke subsided and they were all standing in rubble. A few other leaders had been injured but from what Sarah could see, amongst prominent officials, only King T’Chaka had died. However, assistants and security guards weren’t moving on the ground and she suspected the worst. Steve ran over to her, checking frantically that she was alright. 

“Dheaidí, Dheaidí I’m fine.”

“You were so close to the window.”

“Diamond casing.”

Steve helped Sarah stand up and she groaned, making him turn her around. He saw the cracks on the back of Sarah's neck, from an intense amount of shrapnel and the heat of the explosion hitting her. It actually injured her a bit. Her neck currently looked like a geode cracked open but he couldn’t see blood so the injury mustn’t have been that bad. Steve ushered her to a part of the UN building that wasn’t destroyed where the Avengers were all currently sitting, as well as both Rosses, and T’Challa who had entered moments later, face tear-stained and parts of his suit splattered in blood. 

Other officials had gone back to their hotels with the promise to meet at a new date to be set as soon as possible, if the building could be cleaned of rubble by tomorrow they would want it done tomorrow. In the smaller office room, the team was discussing what was happening.

“Sarah?” Bucky asked. “You look out of it, kid.” 

“Uncle Jamie… we weren’t the only ones were we?” 

“The only one what?” Ross asked. Everyone was looking at Sarah and Bucky but the two weren’t focused on any others.

“I think I recognized someone.” 

Sarah grabbed the pen and notepad from the desk and made a quick, slightly crude, sketch of the woman and the man’s faces. 

“I can’t remem— the reporter.” Bucky looked at the team. 

“Siberia. You wanted to know what he had asked us about. He asked us about Siberia. Where we were kept.”

“Why would he need to know that?” Tony questioned. 

Sarah's fingers traced the sketch as Bucky looked Tony in the eye. “Because there are other winter soldiers.”

“I’m sorry, what?” The secretary asked. 

The team was sure Sarah and Bucky were lying. There was no way. They all looked at each other. Sarah tapped her finger on the sketch of the woman. 

“This one’s Leena, I think. I think that was her name.” 

Bucky looked back at the sketch. “Yeah… and that should be… Daniel? David?”

He looked at the secretary and Ross. 

“I didn’t just train Sarah. I was in charge of them too. HYDRA’s most elite death squad. Unstable at times but too good for HYDRA to kill the program. My kills look like child’s play when you add all of theirs up and that was before the serum.” 

“So they’re like you two?” Steve asked. 

Sarah shook her head. 

“Worse. They speak thirty languages, can hide in plain sight. They’re meant to destabilize. And if they do their job correctly, they can do it in one night.”

“JFK was the winter soldier,” Bucky said. “But it wasn’t me.” 

Everyone nodded, understanding the weight of his words. 

“So we have no time,” Ross said. “How many are there?” 

“Thirteen from when we were there. Potentially more now.”

“Okay, the Task Force will find them and bring them in.” 

“I don’t think you understand,” Bucky said. “They will end you. And you don’t find them unless they want you to.” 

“This is our job. You all should be concerned with your Accords problem.” 

T’Challa made a noise that sounded like a scoff and a laugh at the same time. He was fiddling with his ring— his father’s ring. 

“In my culture, death is not the end. It’s more of a stepping-off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veldt where you can run forever.”

“That sounds very peaceful,” Ross said.

“My father thought so. I am not my father.”

“Prince T’Challa, this is for the Task Force to decide these winter soldiers’ justice.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll kill them myself.” T’Challa walked out of the small office. 

Steve stood up. “I think he has the right idea.”

“Well, this’ll be a disappointment to my kids,” Clint muttered. “I was supposed to take them waterskiing.”

They all followed Steve out of the office. He looked at Sharon who shook her head with a sorrowful smile, she technically had to stay with Ross as part of the Task Force him being her superior. Steve nodded and walked to the Task Force Center that had a branch in Vienna. Tony pulled up all the hologram panels and the team sat down while Sarah and Bucky stayed standing at the front of the room. He plugged in a hard drive that contained FRIDAY so they could use the AI during their meeting. 

“The reporter said he wanted to see an empire fall. With these guys, he could do it.” 

“But what empire, the entire world?” Nat questioned.

“No…” Sarah thought. “He should’ve just deployed the soldiers individually, that’s what HYDRA would do. The explosion was meant to make noise, a loud murder… he’s not HYDRA. It’s too out of character for them.” 

“FRIDAY, pull up footage of Sarah’s UN meeting,” Tony directed the AI. “Play it… okay, stop. Run facial recognition.” 

“There is nothing in the system, Mr. Stark.”

“So this man has a clean track record?” Pietro asked. “Never done a crime before, this seems like a pretty big first case.” 

“He wants something. FRIDAY, scan papers, social media, anything, go past US records.” 

“This will take a while, Mr. Stark.” 

“Alright. Alert someone when you finish.” 

“Of course, Mr. Stark.” 

“So what do we do right now?” Tony asked.

“We need to figure out their next move before more people get hurt,” Bucky said. “And we need more than just us. These guys are enhanced, all thirteen of them.”

Sam stood up. “I know a guy. I’ll be back.”

Nat nodded. “Yeah, I think I have an idea. Right downstairs” She left as well. 

Sarah checked her phone to see texts from Peter, Ned, and MJ asking if she was alright. That they saw what happened in Vienna. She pocketed her phone. 

“This might take a while but I still have school. Jet’s autopilot is plugged in right?”

“Just say G.I.,” Tony said. 

“Get lost kid, we’ll figure it out and call you in,” Clint said with a smile.

She nodded and left the room, Steve’s shout calling her back. 

“Sarah! Phone on, all day. Straight home afterwards. We’ll be right behind you.”

“Understood.” 

Sarah got to school, Happy dropping her off, late. She had missed the first few periods and lunch. Before exiting the car, she sent multiple texts to Tony. 

“Don’t leave, I’ll be right back.” 

“Right back? Sarah, isn’t the point of going to school to actually be in school.” 

“Not this time, Happy. See you in a minute.” 

She raced into the building. It was now the second semester of the school year, so she had Peter’s schedule memorized. Sarah reached the door to his math class. Standing in the little window on the door, Sarah waved frantically trying to get Peter’s attention. He finally looked over in confusion. 

His eyes darted to the front where the teacher’s back was turned and then looked back at Sarah. She moved her hand in a beckoning fashion to which he replied with a shrug and pointed to his math textbook. She repeated the motion and then pointed to having to go. Sarah pointed to her hearing aid and then turned it all the way up, ignoring how overwhelming it was. 

“Is it important?” Peter whispered, looking at his textbook. No one else heard it with how quiet he was. 

He looked back up and she nodded. Peter’s hand shot up and the teacher called on him. 

“I’m not feeling well, may I go to the nurse?”

“Ten minutes until individual work, Mr. Parker. Let’s just finish the lesson.”

“I’m going into anaphylactic shock.” 

The teacher looked at him and his hand lowered. Peter looked at Sarah. She rolled her eyes and opened the classroom door. Everyone’s attention turned to her. 

“Miss Rogers?” 

“Um, Peter’s been accused of stealing Avengers’ technology. He needs to come with me.” 

“What?” Peter said at the same time as the rest of the class. 

“It’s a mistake. I let him use my laptop but um he still needs to be brought in for questioning. We don’t have time, let’s go.” Sarah grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the seat, the two of them racing down the hallway. 

“I stole tech? Really?” Peter said as he followed her outside to where Happy was waiting.

“I panicked. Back to the compound, please, Happy.”

Peter was confused as was the rest of the team when Sarah came in with him. The only person who had a clue what was going on was Tony who nodded at them as he entered the compound with another woman the team didn’t recognize. 

“May?” Peter asked. 

“You didn’t even tell me about the grant,” May said, giving Peter a hug. 

“About the grant?”

“Sarah said you hadn’t gotten any of my emails,” Tony said quickly. “About the September Foundation. Remember when you applied?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well, I approved so now we’re in business.”

“But you didn’t tell me? You’re keeping secrets from me now?” May asked. 

“I just know how much you love surprises so I thought I would let you know if I got it…”

“Sarah, honey, you knew?” May turned to the young lady. 

“Peter made me not tell you.”

“Sneaky teens. I’m proud of you, Peter.” 

“May, why don’t you go into the conference room over there to sign some papers as his legal guardian and then Happy’ll drive you home.” 

Tony pointed her towards the conference room. She left to go, Happy following her. Sarah and Tony waited until Happy had closed the door and then turned back to Peter. The rest of the team still didn’t know what was happening. Tony pulled out his phone. 

“Quick question of the rhetorical variety. This is you, right?” He showed the video that Sarah had sent of Spider-man stopping a car thief. 

“Look at you go, that’s what? 3,000 pounds. 40 miles an hour?”

“Thirty-five,” Sarah said. 

“That’s all on YouTube though, right? That’s where you found that, because all that stuff’s fake you know.”

Sarah looked at Peter. “He’s lying. You’re Spider-man. Go ahead, show them, hit me.” 

“I’m not hitting you.” 

“Show them how strong you are. He’s like me, Dheaidí, and Uncle Jamie.” 

“You’re my friend, I can’t just—”

Sarah punched Peter in the arm. It wasn’t even her hardest throw but she knew it probably still hurt. Sarah grinned and proudly turned to the side so she was looking at Tony and Peter was shoulder to shoulder with her. He turned his head to look at Sarah before shoving her back and pushing very far away, breaking the barstool she crashed into— clearly farther than an average person could. Sarah came bounding back over, proud.

“See!”

“Can I just say that suit, dire need of an upgrade, kid. Already worked on it, hope the dimensions are right, FRIDAY assessed them from the video,” Tony said. 

“Wait, what? Sarah I said not to te—”

“I know, I know. But we need your help. It’s Avenger time, Peter Parker.”

“I can’t.”

Steve stepped in. “I’m going to have to agree. He’s a kid, Tony.” 

“Dheaidí.” 

“Sarah, take your friend home.” 

“You said we needed as many people to take down the winter soldiers. Here’s a person.”

“Sarah,” Peter turned Sarah to look at him. “I’ve only had these powers for a few months. I’m not like you guys. I’m not a superhero.” 

“You don’t think you are but that’s not true to me or any of those people you save around Queens. With great power—”

“Don’t finish that… fine, fine.”

Sarah pecked him on the cheek. “Thank you! Glad you agreed, I was worried we were gonna have to blackmail you.”

“What?”

She pointed to May in the conference room, talking to Happy. 

“You were going to tell her?”

“Threaten to tell her… but look, not a problem anymore.” 

Tony clapped Peter on the back. “Glad to have you on the team kid.” 

“Um, what’s he doing?” Peter asked as Tony tilted his head and scrutinized him. 

“He’s coming up with a nickname… he just does that.” 

Peter leaned back when Tony suddenly leaned in. He snapped his fingers in the boy’s face. 

“Spiderling.” 

“Huh?” Peter blinked but Tony was already walking away, satisfied. 

“Brilliant, Tony, you’ve done it again.”

Steve looked at the two of them. 

“Dheaidí, please. We need all the help we can get.” 

Steve sighed. “Now I have two children to look out for.”

FRIDAY alerted them all a few minutes after May had left that she found something. They all entered the conference room to see she had pulled up multiple military photos. They looked at a specific picture. 

“Colonel Helmut Zemo,” FRIDAY said. “Sokovian Intelligence. He ran Echo Scorpion, a covert kill squad.” 

“Sokovia?” Steve asked. “It’s revenge… the winter soldiers are for us.”

“Not all the soldiers were kept at the Siberian base,” Bucky said.

“Then where?”

“Germany. If we figured that out, they’ll be expecting us, you know. It’s a trap.”

“It also sounds like the best way to stop other people from getting hurt. Suit up, team. We’re going to Germany.” 

“Woah, woah, I can’t go to Germany,” Peter said. “I’ve got homework.”

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that,” Tony muttered. 

They all suited up, Peter’s new suit luckily fitting, and raced into the garage to pile into the quinjet. Texts were sent to Sam and Natasha, telling them to meet the rest of the team at the main airport in Germany as quickly as possible. Two cars pulled up at the parking lot, one with Nat and T’Challa. The other, Sam was stepping out with a lanky man in tow. He came up to Steve. 

“Captain America! Mr. Lang, it’s an honor. I’m shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! You all. I know you all too, you’re great.” He grabbed both of Steve’s biceps making Sarah snicker as Steve looked back at her with a funny face. 

“Look, I wanna say. I know you know a lot of super people, so thanks for thinking of me.”

“Alright, Tic Tac, let’s wrap up the talking.” Sam patted him on the back. “What are we waiting for?” 

Bucky surveyed the area, eyes squinting due to the bright sun. A voice came over the airport PA system in German. Bucky’s head turned to where the noise was coming from, focusing intently. 

“They’re evacuating the airport,” he translated. 

“They’re here,” Steve said, putting on his helmet. He pointed at Sarah and Peter. “Stay back as long as you can.” 

They both nodded. Peter pulled down his mask while Sarah pulled her hood on— clipping it in so it stayed. They watched as a single soldier crossed the empty parking lot. None of the team moved, knowing it was a trap. But they couldn’t see where any of the others were. Peter felt all of his hairs stand on end. Sarah, Steve, and Bucky heard the slight scrape against concrete. The four of them turned their heads first, everyone else following, to see a helicopter being thrown at them. Wanda sprung into action, catching it in the red bubble to gently set to the side. The soldier that had been walking towards them, jumped into action and so did the other soldiers from wherever they were hidden.

The team had to split, immediately thrown into the throws of fighting. Peter shot out a web and swung both Sarah and him to the top deck of the parking lot, out of the way like Steve said. They watched the fight from above, everyone getting their ass kicked. Sarah's eyes scanned quickly and then she stood up to look around, seeing nothing else in the parking lot. 

“We’re missing four… Dad, can Redwing find an open jet?” 

“… we’ve got a problem. Special Ops are here. Hangar five, north runaway,” Sam said as he received the scans from Redwing. 

“They’re going to get themselves killed,” Nat mumbled. 

Two of the winter soldiers knocked her to the ground and started to run into the terminal.

“Alright, Underoos. G.I.” 

“On it, Mr. Stark.”

Peter threw Sarah at the glass of the terminal, shattering it on impact, before swinging in himself. The two of them started to fight the two soldiers, chasing after them when they ran off. Tony and Rhodey were launching small missiles where they could, trying to avoid hitting the team. One of the soldiers launched a gasoline truck, forcing everyone to run. 

“Okay,” Rhodey gritted his teeth. “Now I’m pissed.” 

“Anyone know why they aren’t all here? Lang, Barton, handle Special Ops.” 

Scott and Clint ran off. One of the soldiers caught the shield that Steve threw and flung it into Pietro, knocking him out mid run. Scott and Clint reached the Special Ops. 

“We’ve got this,” Scott said.

“You are currently operating outside the law. The Accords.”

“We get it. Accords bullshit, I think you can see there are bigger problems,” Clint said. “Stay out of the way before someone gets killed.” 

“Barton, you don’t tell us…” 

“I’m gonna regret this, later.” 

Clint shook out his hand and punched the Special Ops right in the face. Scott looked and followed suit with the other right in front of him. Clint shot off a few arrows to contain the others. 

Peter trapped one of the soldiers with the webs. Sarah stopped to deal with the soldier pulling at the web that had her stuck to a ticket booth while Peter chased after the other. Sarah kicked her in the chest right as she pulled off the webbing. The soldier lunged at her. The two of them tousled when Sarah heard Steve’s voice through the comms. 

“They’re leaving! Report to the hangar.” 

She headbutted the soldier on top of her, knocking her out. Sarah grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to the hangar where everyone was waiting. Tying her up along with the other four they captured, the Avengers threw them at the feet of Special Ops that had recovered from getting hit by Scott and Clint. 

“Here’s five of them,” Steve said. “Let us do our job and get the others. We’re gonna need the jet, they kind of threw ours at us.” 

“How are we supposed to get back to home base? Get them to headquarters?” The lead guard asked. 

Clint tossed them the keys to one of the vans they had come in. “You got a license?”

“Watch it, Barton.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Blow me, you can put Scott and I on probation when we’re done. If you excuse me.” 

Clint swung into the jet and Steve started it up while Bucky typed in the coordinates for the HYDRA base in Siberia. Scott, Pietro, and Peter had gotten a little banged up so they stayed with Vision and Wanda to help make sure the captured soldiers didn’t escape while the Special Ops team was transporting them. 

“You know I’m not letting the probation go,” the guard said to Scott. “You two are definitely going on house arrest.” 

“Figured as much.”

Their jet was chasing after the other one when suddenly theirs turned around. 

“What’s it doing?” Bucky asked. 

They all watched it hover and then saw something that looked like beams start to light up. Rhodey, Sam, and Tony opened the jet door and jumped out. 

“Keep going, beat them to Siberia, while they’re distracted with us,” Tony said before he jumped out. 

The jet continued while Tony, Sam, and Rhodey took out the blasters. One of the blasters managed to hit Rhodey in the chest, knocking him offline. Rhodey was free falling fast. Sam and Tony both nosedived to try and catch him but Rhodey hit the ground hard before either of them made it. Tony ripped off his mask to have FRIDAY read his vitals. 

“Go, I’ll get him to medical,” Sam said. 

Tony took one more look at Rhodey before nodding and slipping his mask back on, speeding off to try and catch up to the jet.


	22. Chapter 22

The team landed amongst a snowstorm, the mountain eerily quiet. They approached the large double doors, locked. They weren’t opening even after Tony blasted at them. 

“I’ve got this.” 

Sarah pressed the button on her pinky. Her glove heated up until a large diamond blade came out, more fine tip like a pick. The door screeched as Sarah drew a large circle, cutting through the door. She kicked it hard and the metal fell in. Hissing through the pain, Sarah punched off the diamond pick. 

“That,” Tony pointed to Sarah's hand. “Impressive, G.I.” 

“Thanks.” 

The base seemed too quiet as they all walked through, Sarah and Bucky leading the way. Almost as if there was no need to be on high alert. Bucky pulled Sarah along when he noticed she had froze staring at her old cell. The others looked in as they walked past. There were still books in there, a stripped-down bed, and a prominent blood stain on the floor making Steve think about what she had told him and Sam.

“I’ve got heat signatures,” Tony said. 

“How many?” Steve asked. 

“Uh, one.”

They entered the room where he had read the signatures. The cryo containers were empty. The lights came on and they could all see Zemo in some containment unit. Steve threw his shield at it hard but it just bounced off the unit and into his hand. 

“The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets,” Zemo said. 

“Bet I can get through it,” Sarah said. 

“Oh, over time you probably could 001. Or is it Gemstone now? It’s all in the same isn’t it.”

“You killed innocent people in Vienna to get to us,” Steve said. 

“I’ve thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you, followed you.”

“All this for Sokovia?” 

“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No, all this because I made a promise. I lost everyone and so will you.” 

A screen above the chamber clicked to life. They all watched security footage timestamped 1991. 

“I know that road,” Tony said. 

Soon a car rolled into view, crashing into a tree, quickly followed by the Winter Soldier— Bucky’s Winter Soldier— on a motorcycle. They all watched as Bucky grabbed Howard Stark by the back of his hair, the recognition of Bucky as well as fear clear on his face. Bucky punched Howard three times in the face and the man dropped, Tony’s mother— Maria— screaming. 

Tony’s jaw clenched as he watched Bucky drag his father back into the car and prop him in the driver’s seat before walking around choking his mother and shooting out the security camera. Tony dropped to his knees. The minute his knees hit the ground, the winter soldiers descended. 

Catching them all off guard, since they were distracted. They all tried to regain their footing and Sarah noticed Tony still hadn’t moved as a soldier stalked to him. Bucky shot the soldier between the eyes, where he couldn’t recover. Sarah grabbed Tony and carried him to the corner. 

“Uncle Tony, Uncle Tony, I know how it feels but we don’t have time for this now. You can punch Uncle Jamie later but we need you out there.” 

Tony nodded slowly and Sarah smiled as the Iron Man mask came down. They all kept fighting. T’Challa looked to see Zemo slip out of the chamber and left to stalk him. The contained space made it harder to use gunfire from Bucky or missiles from Tony but it did make it easier for close combat. And with the lack of access to large helicopters and vehicles to throw, the Avengers were able to tag team soldiers until they had all been knocked out. Steve made the executive decision to kill them, Ross and the Task Force would have to be happy with the five they got. They all walked back to the jet, not talking. When the jet got into the sky, Tony went to lunge for Bucky— Steve grabbing him by the arm.

“One swing. Let me get one swing.”

“Steve, let him go.” 

Bucky didn’t try to brace himself as Tony punched him hard in the face. Bucky stood up and Tony punched him again before he walked away, breathing heavy. Tony moved to sit in the pilot’s seat away from Bucky. 

* * *

Sarah sat at the dining room table doing homework with Peter while Tony worked with Rhodey on physical therapy. Tony had fitted him with smart tech leg braces so he could walk again— Sam had informed everyone that medical declared Rhodey paralyzed from the waist down. 

“Give me some feedback, anything you can think of,” Tony said as he watched Rhodey walk slowly while holding onto bars. 

Sarah looked over when she heard the crash, making a move to help but Rhodey shoved her and Tony away. He wanted to get up by himself. She sat back down at the table.

“138,” Rhodey said. “138 combat missions. That’s how many I’ve flown, Tony. Every one of them could’ve been my last, but I flew them. Because the fight needed to be fought. And yeah that sucks, this is a bad beat. Shit happens.” 

Sarah and Peter looked over when there was a knock on the glass window. The very old FedEx delivery man was standing there with a box.

“Are you Tony Stank?”

“Yes, this is Tony Stank,” Rhodey pointed. “You’re in the right place. Thank you for that! Never dropping that, by the way.” 

Rhodey went back to the bars. “Table for one, Mr. Stank. Please, by the bathroom.” 

Sarah and Peter giggled. Tony looked over at the two teenagers. 

“That’s funny? You two are grounded.”

“Not our dad,” Sarah retorted. 

Tony muttered something along the lines of thank goodness and never having children as he brought the package over to the table. He ripped it open and pulled out a small booklet along with a letter. Tony opened the letter to find a single seal from Secretary Ross. He looked at the booklet to see it said: The New Accords. The front page read, signed by 193 countries and two observer states. He flipped it to the next page to see a single paragraph:

**For as long as S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to serve the good of the people, the Avengers will remain a private organization trusted to protect the world. S.H.I.E.L.D. will create a small branch to work in tandem with the UN. But the current individual team known as the Avengers and dubbed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and any subsequent members that join will operate as a special ops team under their own jurisdiction.**

Tony flipped through the pages, each page saying the same paragraph with a different countries’ signature at the bottom. 

* * *

Sarah and Peter were sitting in the back of the car as Steve dropped them off at school. He heard their laughter and looked in the rearview mirror to see the two staring at Peter’s phone sharing earbuds. 

“What’s so funny?” 

“Peter vlogged our trip to Germany,” Sarah said before returning her attention to the phone. 

Peter had filmed the most random scenes. It started with Tony asking him if it was his first time on a private plane, if you could even consider the quinjet a private plane. Him scaring Tony when he had fallen asleep on the ride to Germany. He had shown off his new suit in the hotel room mirrors. Sarah eating a giant pretzel and giving some to him behind the camera. There was even a scene of Sarah smiling and waving at the camera while the two waited on top of the parking deck where the fighting was happening. There was one of Sarah dragging the soldier towards the hangar with Peter saying ‘go best friend, that’s my best friend’. The rest of the footage was new to her since it was after they had left Peter and them to chase the other soldiers— one which involved an interesting message to May from Tony acting as a fake alibi for him. 

“You two know you can’t—”

“Yeah, Dheaidí. But you know maybe the team should get social media. We’re already public figures aren’t we?”

“We already had this discussion. I already said no Instagram, no Twitter. Nothing more public than we already all.”

“So I have to delete my Snapchat?” 

“What?”

“Nothing. Let’s go, Peter Parker. I already asked Jessica on PR, she’s thinking the idea over.” Sarah dragged Peter out the car as it rolled to a stop at a stop sign a few blocks down from the school, ignoring Steve’s shouts. 

“Sorry, Dheaidí. Don’t want to be late, you know. Trying to actually finish the school year with decent attendance… Oh, is Uncle Clint coming to dinner?” 

“Not this week. Says he’s using the house arrest as an excuse for a long vacation, now about Snapchat?”

“Nope, gotta go.” 

Steve looked at the two running off and picked up the phone.

“Babe, did your niece get better after sophomore year?” 

“Considering she was turning sixteen, just worse.”

“Oh, joy.” Steve’s car sped off. 

They reached the front of the school, having to jump onto the curb to avoid getting hit by Flash Thompson in his convertible. 

“What up, Penis Parker? Hey, Sarah.” 

Peter rolled his eyes and continued to pull Sarah along into the school building. The TVs in the hallway played the morning announcements with Betty and another student whose name Sarah couldn’t remember. They were reminding everyone of the homecoming dance coming up and to get their dates and secure tickets. Sarah walked with Peter to his locker. Ned appeared with a tiny lego Sith in his hand, propping it on Peter’s shoulder. 

“Join with me and together we’ll build the new lego Death Star I just bought.” 

“No way, you got the Death Star?” Sarah asked, excitedly. “How many pieces?” 

“3,803.” 

“Awesome,” she and Peter said at the same time. 

“I know. You two want to do it tonight?”

Peter sighed. “I can’t I’ve got the Stark—”

“The Stark Internship. I know. How busy do they have you? I feel like Sarah gets more free time and she’s an Avenger.” 

“It’s because they’re training Peter on all the new tech,” she lied. “I see him with Uncle Tony late in the lab. They want him knowing the machinery in and out before a real project.”

“Hopefully, it’ll lead to a real job soon,” Peter said. 

“It’s called being patient, Peter Parker.” Sarah knew he was itching to get out into the field after trying the big leagues. 

“Yeah,” Ned started. “He’ll be all good work with the spreadsheets, Peter. Here’s a gold coin. What? I don’t know how jobs work.”

Sarah laughed as Ned said that when Peter looked at him like he was crazy. 

“That’s exactly how they work,” Peter joked. 

“Well, I’ll knock out the Death Star base at my place and then come by later and we can finish it. Sarah, you still coming?” 

The girl nodded. Peter might have had training but she didn’t. Well, she did, but it was early in the morning with Bucky and sometimes Steve if he and Sam chose to join the two instead of sleeping in for thirty more minutes. 

“Liz is back?” 

They looked in the direction that had caught Peter’s attention. 

“Liz?” Sarah asked. 

“Yeah. Girl, Peter’s been crushing on since freshman year. She spent first semester on an exchange program, she’s a junior,” Ned explained to her. 

“Oh, she came back at the beginning of second?” 

“Yep.”

“Ok, I know I’ve missed a lot of school but how come I’ve never seen her? Doesn’t matter, let’s invite her to lunch.”

“No!” Peter yelled. 

“Ha, good luck. He stares at her from a distance.”

“It can’t be that bad.” 

Sarah realized it was in fact that bad as she sat across from them in the cafeteria. They were watching Liz put up the sign for the homecoming dance. 

“Is that a new top?” Peter asked.

“No, we’ve seen that one before but never with that skirt,” Ned said. 

Sarah gave them a look that both of them ignored as they kept looking. 

“We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy.” 

“Too late,” she muttered. 

“You guys are losers,” Michelle said and the three turned to look at her. 

“Amen, sister.” Sarah slid the tray over to her and moved to sit down. “Uncle Tony was right… testosterone.” 

She saw more of Liz because it turns out she ran decathlon as Mr. Harrington’s assistant. The team introduced Sarah to her so she knew not to ask the girl questions, that she just liked to sit in. 

“Can I just say this is a mini fangirl moment. I love the suit, the pink star’s really cute.”

“Thank you!” Sarah said cheerily. “I’m glad someone appreciates it.” 

* * *

Ned gasped, making Sarah look over and stop staring at the bottom of the top bunk of Peter’s bed. Peter dropped from the ceiling and the Death Star fell out of Ned’s hand and crashed onto the floor. 

“You’re the Spider-man,” Ned said.

“I’m not. I’m not,” Peter said as he hit the spider logo on the suit so it fell off and to the ground, as if that would somehow make Ned magically forget he saw it. 

“What are you doing here?” Peter asked. 

“We finished the base, I said I’d come by after.”

“What? I didn’t know you meant to— why’d you let him come in?” Peter directed the last bit to Sarah. 

“How was I supposed to know you snuck home after training? I thought you used the front door like a normal person.”

“I do, but I saw a bank robbery and… forget it.”

May came bursting into the room, fanning at the smoke from the oven. 

“Whoo, that turkey meatloaf is over. I’m thinking Thai. Sarah, Ned, you want Thai?” 

“No,” Peter said quickly and then looked at the two of them. 

“Ned and I are going on a date, May. We’ll be going in just a minute.”

“You two? Didn’t see that coming, would have thought you and— never mind… might want to put on some clothes for dinner, Peter.” She said as she closed the door.

“You owe me,” Sarah said to Peter as she grabbed a sweater off his chair and chucked it at his chest. 

“She doesn’t know?” Ned asked. 

“Nobody knows! Mr. Stark because he made my suit and the other Avengers but that’s it.”

“Are you an Avenger now?”

“Sort of,” Peter shrugged. 

“He is,” Sarah said from behind him. 

Ned grabbed his chest. “Oh, geez.” 

“You can’t tell anybody. You gotta keep it a secret.”

“Secret? Why?”

“You know what she’s like.” Peter pointed at his door, talking about May.

“But Sarah’s parents…”

“Are both Avengers, Ned,” she said. “Circumstances are a little different.”

“If May finds out people try and kill me every night, she won’t let me do this. Ned, please. I cannot do that to her right now. I mean everything’s that happened with her, I—,” Peter pleaded with his best friend. 

“Okay.”

“Swear it.”

“I swear.”

“Thank you. I promise I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”

Peter looked at Sarah and she grabbed Ned’s hand. “Let’s go, I’ll answer any questions.”

“But, but…”

“I’ll let you try on Uncle Tony’s suit.”

“Let’s go.” Ned practically pulled her out of the room. Sarah groaned as she heard May ask Peter about her and Ned going on this fake date. 

“So does he do that and the Stark Internship?” Ned asked as the two waited outside for Happy. 

“Ned, that is the Stark Internship.”

Sarah directed him into the car when Happy rolled up, asking him to stop for cheeseburgers. True to his word, Ned spent the next day asking Peter all sorts of questions about him being Spider-man. Peter on the other hand was not having any of it. Sarah got to avoid most of the questions simply by not having class with the two of them, until gym rolled around. 

Sarah thought it was dumb that she of all people had to do gym but they made her anyway. The teacher rolled out a tv and she saw the words, Captain America’s Fitness Challenge, flash across the screen and then a picture of her dad in the goofiest version of his Captain America suit. 

“What the… God, he’s so embarrassing,” Sarah whispered. 

“No lie,” MJ looked up from her book. “I would disown my dad if he did that.”

Sarah chuckled and rolled your eyes. “Let’s just start the sit-ups station. You’re my partner.” 

She dragged MJ to one of the mats. MJ held Sarah's feet in one hand while still reading in the other. Ned paired with Peter to keep asking questions and try to persuade him to be as Ned put it ‘the guy in the chair’. Sarah and Peter could both hear some of the kids playing a game of F, Marry, Kill with various Avengers. 

“I’d F Thor, marry Iron Man, and kill Hulk,” Betty said. 

“If I hear my fathers’ names out of anyone’s mouth,” Sarah shouted, making them laugh. “…If I hear my name.” 

“You’re all good,” Liz said. 

Peter kept listening when he heard them ask her about Spider-man while Sarah went back to the sit-ups. 

“Peter knows Spider-man,” Ned said, making the whole gym stop to look at him. 

Peter tried to backtrack it somehow. Flash jumped down from the rope station. 

“Yeah the same way Coach and Captain America are friends.”

Sarah looked at Peter who was watching Liz’s face with disappointment. 

“No, it’s true. Peter’s met him a couple of times by chance when he comes to the compound for homework and…”

“The Stark Internship. That I’m not really supposed to talk about.” Peter directed the last bit to Ned. 

“That’s awesome. Then maybe you should invite him to Liz’s party, tonight. Right?” Flash said. 

“I don’t think he’d—” the bell for class cut Sarah off and everyone started to exit the gym. She grabbed Peter’s arm. “Second time you owe me.” 

“Thank you.” Peter gave her a one-armed hug and pecked her on the cheek. 

“Oh and I’m not coming to D.C. with you guys for decathlon. We’re taking a family vacation. Figure out how to talk to Liz, please… but I’ll keep my phone on in case you need help.”

“You’re the best, Sarah.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” 

She left Peter and Ned to their conversation. When she got home, Sam asked about where Peter was. He was so used to seeing the Spiderling with Sarah after school that her coming home alone was a rare sight. 

“Not training today. Liz is having a party.” 

“And you aren’t at said party because?”

“Not my thing, Dad.” 

“Isn’t that part of being a normal teenager?” 

“So are drugs by that standard… what are you making?”

“Fair enough, sweetheart, and it’s mac and cheese.”

Sarah walked over to the kitchen and looked at all the ingredients. She opened the fridge to grab a drink. 

“That’s a lot for mac and cheese. What do you need the breadcrumbs for?” 

“What do I— have you never had mac and cheese?”

“That’s not how Dheaidí used to make it. Just pasta and cheese sauce.” 

“Pasta and cheese… Steve’s trying to poison you.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and walked off to go knock out an hour in the ballet studio.


	23. Chapter 23

“Wait, so, Uncle Tony got pissed at you?” Sarah asked, walking with Ned and Peter to the bodega before heading to Peter’s. 

“Mainly that I almost drowned. He says I should stay the friendly neighborhood spider but the problems are coming into the neighborhood,” Peter said frustrated as he looked at the drinks in the fridge. 

“I think he’s just worried. Sometimes he doesn’t even like when I go on missions alone, you’ve just got to prove that you can be an Avenger.” 

“If they ever let me.” 

“Don’t say that, of course they will. You said you found Chitauri weapons, don’t let a setback like Uncle Tony’s temper tantrum throw you from your job. Was the party fun at least?”

Peter shrugged. “It was fine.”

“He actually talked to Liz,” Ned offered. 

Peter shook his head when Sarah gave him an excited yet questioning face. “She’s cool.”

“Cool? That’s it, I thought this was the girl you had been crushing on since freshman year?”

“Crushing was a strong word.”

“You know what else was strong, your staring.” 

“It was cause we hadn’t seen her since last summer. I talked to her, she’s cool. I guess I still like her, just think I’ve started to notice someone else.”

The three made their way to the checkout. Sarah and Ned both questioned Peter but he didn’t say anything. He grabbed the snacks out of Sarah's hand and paid for them before she got the chance to take out her wallet like usual. Peter blinked in surprise when she suddenly was right in his face. 

“I’ll find out who this mystery girl is. You can’t hide her from me forever… damn, can’t come over anymore,” Sarah read a message off of her phone. “I just made Prima in company.” 

“When did you join a real ballet studio?”

“Well I didn’t. Aleisha Dupont, from France did… now if you boys excuse me, I have a wig to change into, some prosthetics to put on and a headmaster whose face is about to meet the end of my pointe shoe. Bye, Ned, Peter Parker.” 

She gave both boys a peck on the cheek and darted out the bodega where Happy’s car was pulled up. Happy drove carefully so she could apply the makeup and secure the black straight wig with bangs. It was a small mission technically but Sarah loved any mission that let her do solo work. Not because she didn’t love the team but team missions were usually always smash a few things and lots of fighting, solo missions for her tended to be spy work and if someone has to die it’s discreet without much of a fight, and often not by her hands.

“Aleisha!” 

Sarah ran to her friends and hugged them. 

“We heard about Prima, the whole company is talking.” 

“It’s too bad I can’t enjoy it.”

“Can’t enjoy it.”

“Mon pere, we’re moving back to France. Today’s my last day.”

“No, really? Well, we should celebrate our 24 hour prima. Let’s go, I want a good spot at the barre.” 

Sarah stayed behind when everyone else had cleared out to talk to the headmaster. Well, there wasn’t any talking. She hit him upside the temple with the pointe shoe when he was in the hallway and dragged him back into his office to prop him up in his chair. Humming the Dance of the Little Swans, Sarah turned on the electric kettle and poured him a cup— making it the exact way she had observed him do it for the past few months. 

The headmaster started to wake up so she hit him with the shoe again. While the tea cooled, Sarah took off the wig and makeup. She sat on the desk and waited until S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had come in to take him away. Sarah sipped on the tea as Sharon and Maria entered to help look through files. 

“You know, he might be evil but this cup of tea is nothing but heavenly. I’m definitely stealing this recipe.”

The two women looked at the young girl as she stretched out the cup towards them. 

“You want me to make you one?”

Sharon laughed. “I think we’re good. Your dads are outside with the car.” 

Sarah put on her other pointe shoe and hopped down from the desk. The agents tried not to laugh as she danced out of the office and towards the front door. Steve and Sam were waiting in the car so they could drive to the airport for vacation. Principal Morita had signed off on Sarah's document that stated she'd be out of school for Thursday and Friday. Sam and Steve shook their heads as she danced all the way to the car, stopping on the steps for the ending of the performance. Both men clapped, unenthusiastically, when she finished. She connected her phone to the car’s Bluetooth system. Sam and Steve looked at each other when the music came on. 

“And this would be?” Steve asked. 

“Britney Spears… All eyes on me in the center of a ring just like a circus!” 

Sam and Steve were subjected to the whims of their teenage daughter all the way to the airport, a ride made unnecessarily longer due to traffic. Sarah's music taste was diverse and often along the lines of Steve and Sam but that particular car ride she only wanted to listen to pop divas. So Beyonce, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, and Diana Ross were a few of the artists they had to listen to. 

They pulled up to the airport, Steve paying for the days the car would be parked there, and found a nice spot currently away from all the other cars. Sarah asked Sam to record a video for her to send to Ned, MJ, and Peter. She turned the volume all the way up in the car as “I’m Coming Out” started to play. Sam filmed as she stepped out the car dramatically in time to the words and did a goofy strut until she approached the camera. 

“Hope you guys win decathlon! I’ll be sending you nothing but good vibes from sunny California!” 

Steve felt Sarah's head practically slam against his shoulder as she fell asleep halfway through the flight. They were thinking maybe they shouldn’t have tried to be normal citizens and should’ve taken the quinjet instead because they were not prepared for the flight time to still be so long. When they landed, Sarah turned off airplane mode on her phone to see a couple texts had come in. She opened the one from Peter that was a video.

“Have fun in Cali, wish we were there with you.” 

“Liz asked Peter to the dance!” Ned popped up behind Peter. “Right in front of everyone on the team.” 

“Ned, I’m sure Sarah doesn’t care… it’s not that big a deal. Gotta go, we’re still practicing. See you soon.” 

The video cut off rather abruptly. The other messages were from Ned and MJ that were just texts thanking her for the good luck and hoping she enjoyed her vacation. 

The Big Thunder Suite at the Disneyland Hotel wasn’t as bad as Sarah thought. She wanted to stay in the FairyTale Suite— Steve and Sam did not. But the copper tub in the suite was a good enough consolation prize for her. Sarah flopped onto the bed with excitement before changing into sweats and joining her fathers downstairs for dinner. 

“I’ve got the whole park planned so we can see everything!” Sarah said excitedly, barely chewing her food before swallowing. 

Steve gave Sam an amused smile. “She’s got the whole thing planned.”

“Whole thing?”

“Whole thing.” 

“I hate you both.” She rolled her eyes while both men laughed at her expense.

The first day did not go as planned. Sarah, Steve, and Sam had the uncanny ability to forget that they were well-known Avengers resulting in lots of kids coming up to the three— especially Sam and Steve. They had sat down to get lunch when one child recognized Steve first. Sarah and Sam had ducked their heads down but the kid took one glance and recognized them too. 

Before Sam and Steve could process what was happening, Sarah left the area, forcing them to deal with the growing line of kids wanting pictures with Captain America and Falcon and the apologies of their parents who tried to tell them that the two men just wanted to enjoy the park. Sam and Steve were glad to take pictures and sign autographs. Sarah thought she was in the clear until she stumbled into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. 

Both men looked around once the line had gotten smaller and tried to find Sarah. Sam grabbed his phone to text her when he got a message sent from the PR team, it was a link to Twitter. Someone had posted a photo of Sarah at the boutique and a line of children now wanting makeovers from America’s Darling. They scrolled through Twitter, her name now trending, and saw various photos and videos: 

Sarah gasped when she saw the little girl with green hearing aids approach the station that the employees let Sarah have. The little girl gave her a little wave. Sarah pointed to her own hearing aids and the child nodded excitedly. 

_We match!_

Sarah looked up to see her parents. 

_She begged for your color, it’s not even her favorite_ , her dad signed. 

_You’ve given her so much confidence that she can do anything,_ her mom signed. 

Sarah looked back at the little girl. _I think one large Avenger sized makeover is what we want._

Another video popped up of her getting asked questions as she left the salon, not getting farther than the bench right outside. 

“Is all the glitter because of pixie dust?”

“Glitter?”

“Your skin!”

Sarah laughed when she realized they were talking about the diamond. Whenever she got hit with something, you see the sparkle of the diamond briefly upon impact as the area became super tough to stop the damage. The kids looked at her patiently, expecting an answer and she wasn't about to spoil magic for them in the middle of Disneyland. Their fifth grade history class can do that for her. 

“Yes. My mom was a fairy.”

The kids gasped in amazement. 

“Was your mom a tinker fairy? Is that why you’re so good at making things?”

When Sarah nodded the children started chanting ‘TinkerDarling’. Steve laughed when he heard on the video one kid say in wonder that Captain America was once married to a fairy. 

“Should we go save her?”

“Probably.” 

They got to the area where Sarah was but saw she already had another savior approaching. 

“Peter!” The kids yelled, making Sarah turn her head to see Peter Pan. 

“Hey, kids. Tink and I are needed in Neverland, Captain Hook is back to his evil ways.” He made a face causing the kids to gasp. “We’re sorry to leave you but remember to always have faith, trust, say it with me… and pixie dust! Come on, TinkerDarling.”

Peter Pan stuck out a hand that Sarah gladly grabbed and he whisked her towards the stand labelled Maurice’s Treats where Steve and Sam were. He dropped her off. 

“Thank you.” 

“Any time, TinkerDarling,” Peter Pan broke character for a moment. “You know that’s staying.”

“It’s already trending,” Sam said as he held up the phone. 

Sarah's phone rang and she answered it while waving a goodbye to Peter Pan. Tony’s voice came through the phone. 

“For the record, I got the Tinkerbell nickname I wanted.”

“Bye Uncle Tony.”

“Bye, TinkerDar—”

She shoved the phone back in her shorts’ pocket. The park saved them as it came on through the speakers that the Avengers were in the park for a mission to stop HYDRA agents hiding in Disney and that if any children see through their disguise to pretend they don’t know them— as well as report any HYDRA looking activity to another Disney character and they’ll find the Avengers right away. The three were able to move through the rest of the park relatively seamlessly, children pointing and shushing each other or giving them all winks excited that they were assisting on such an important “mission”.

Sarah made Sam and Steve take lots of pictures, complaining that she'd have nowhere to post them— instead of buying into the guilt trip, Steve simply sent the pictures to the PR team and said now they’d be posted. Rolling her eyes, she followed the two of them to the next ride, Sam’s pick. The park had her absolutely worn out by the time they left on the night of Day 2. Sarah dropped onto the bed of the hotel room. 

* * *

Peter smiled looking at the text from his phone. It was a video from Sarah once she had gotten back to the hotel from the park. 

“Hey Peter Parker, guess what happened. I’m officially a Disney fairy. Well, not really but for about two hours I was the fairy leader of a small army under the age of ten that wouldn’t leave me alone. And you’ll never guess who my savior was? Peter Pan! Don’t worry, you’re still the cuter Peter. Have fun at decathlon, do your best! I hope you guys win. I know you’re smart so it shouldn’t be a problem. Knock ‘em dead, Spider-man. I’ll send a little pixie dust your way, just for luck.”

Sarah laughed as she wiggled her fingers. 

“This is your TinkerDarling, signing off.” 

He needed something to boost his morale as he watched the rest of the decathlon team have fun at the pool. He had a job to do. Yeah, being with other students was fun but he had a job to do, to prove to the other Avengers especially Tony. Peter pulled on his mask. Knock ‘em dead, Spider-man ringing through his head. 

* * *

“What if you had a Disney wedding?” Sarah asked while they waited for the Animation Academy drawing class to start. 

“Babydoll, I think you’re the only one who is that obsessed with Disney here.”

“Yeah, I like Disney but I don’t think I want Mickey officiating our ceremony. How about the beach?” Sam asked Steve. 

“Beach is fine or maybe a barnyard venue.”

“We could ask Clint, doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

They continued to talk about ideas quietly, Sarah offering input at certain ideas, while the animator taught everyone how to draw Pooh Bear. 

* * *

Sarah hit Peter in the chest when she saw him with Ned in the hallway as everyone cleared out to head to their last class of the day.

“Ow, what was that for?” 

“Washington? What the hell, Peter?! Why did I find out from the news instead of you that the Washington Monument almost collapsed?”

“How’d you know it was me? I cleared the area before anyone showed up.”

“How long have I been an Avenger… Ned told me.” 

“Well you were on vacation and I didn’t want you to be distracted.”

“Next time, distract me, I don’t care. And how am I supposed to cover for you if I don’t know what to cover for?”

“Well it wasn’t exactly planned.”

“I’m serious.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll text you after.” 

“Thank you. Oh, I got these for you two.” 

Sarah handed Ned a pair of Mickey ears and presented Peter with the Peter Pan hat, making him laugh. She adjusted the hat on his head.

“Thank you, TinkerDarling.”

“I’m gonna let that slide only because I’m about to say the dumbest thing ever.”

“Does it involve you telling me you’re actually made of pixie dust… you’re joking.”

“Not quite pixie dust, but twirl me.”

Peter grabbed her hand and spun her. He and Ned wowed as Sarah made her skin glitter.

“The kids got me thinking about if I could harden the diamond on command, without having to get hit, you know.”

“Oh now I’m really not letting it go, Tink.”

“Then you and Ned are my Lost Boys.”

“Of course.” Peter twirled her one more time. 

“Alright. I have a free period so I’m going back to Neverland, would ask if you wanna come but heard you got detention?” Sarah smirked while Peter rolled his eyes at her. 

She gave Ned a peck on the cheek and the Peter. 

“See you tomorrow, Ned, Peter Parker.”


	24. Chapter 24

Sarah ate breakfast in the common room dining area because it was one of the few occasions the entire team was up early on a weekday before she had to leave for school. Pepper came strolling in, already in her business attire, typing something away on her phone. 

“We did it, Avengers Tower has been sold. I’m enlisting all of you to help with moving, no complaints.” 

“You sold the Tower, Uncle Tony?”

“Ever since we started phasing all of the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. branch into the compound, I just don’t see a reason for us to have both. Keep everything in a central location. How much was it bought for Pep?” Tony moved to the toaster to wait for his breakfast.

“More than necessary.” 

“Capsicle, ever heard of a trust fund? Sarah got one?”

“No.” 

Tony caught the toast as it popped out of the toaster. 

“Ms. Potts, set up a trust for Baby Wilson-Rogers… Split it, half to the Spiderling.” Tony aggressively took a bite out of the toast and walked out of the common room and towards his lab. Nat poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Well, now we know why he’s never having children. He already has two.” 

“Wait, does this mean I’m a millionaire?” Sarah asked with clearly too much excitement. 

“Technically, multi,” Pepper said. “And technically, not till you graduate. Finish eating, Happy’s downstairs already.” 

She finished and went to the car. Happy laughed as Sarah tried to convince him to let her drive to school— not succeeding. When she jumped out of the car, she saw MJ on the bench reading. The other girl looked up from her book. 

“Jared’s going to ask you to the dance before homeroom.” 

“Oh, joy.”

“This makes him sad male number five?”

“It’s not sad… and number six. Do you want to go dress shopping after school?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sarah extended a hand that MJ reluctantly took and walked with her inside. MJ never walked with Sarah for very long but she was slowly opening up considering this was the first time she stayed holding the girl's hand as Sarah pulled her inside. When Sarah caught up to Peter and Ned alone, Peter was buzzing in anticipation to tell her something. He looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation.

“I found out their next whereabouts, new buyer named Mac Gargan.”

“Look at you go. So new buyer, what are you going to do now?”

“They meet tomorrow on the Staten Island Ferry. I know we were supposed to go see that improv show but—”

“But you’ve got a job to do. I get it Spider-man, I guess this is payback from when I had to bail on bowling… you know, I’ve never been to Staten Island.”

“It’s… Staten Island. When it’s not a mission, let’s go.”

Sarah and Peter shook on it. Even if the two never ended up going, the thought of it was still nice. Sarah didn’t know what she was going to do over the weekend anymore— Ned’s wasn’t even an option because of a family reunion. Most of the house was going to be on a mission or in Tony’s case various “business trips” for Stark Industries that very closely resembled vacation. Maybe Pepper would want to go with her somewhere but she was overseeing the move. 

Her Aunt Laura and Cousin Lila ended up being Sarah's substitutes for Saturday morning with Peter when Clint came in to fill out the papers regarding his “probation/house arrest” that he was taking way too seriously as an excuse for a vacation he felt was long overdue. Laura and Lila agreed to go to the nail salon with Sarah. When they came back to the compound, Sarah proudly showed off the nails to her family. 

“Oh that’s cool, they change color,” Wanda said. “I’ve always wanted to try that.”

She looked at her nails, but didn’t see anything. She was about to ask when Steve entered the room. He didn’t get very far into the common room when Sarah shoved her nails in his face. Steve grabbed her hands. 

“They’re very pretty, Babydoll.” 

“Wanda says they change color.”

Steve looked at the nails reflecting in the sunlight and started to chuckle before he caught himself. 

“They change from purple to blue.”

Sarah looked at her own nails for a moment. It still looked blue and more blue. 

“Oh.”

Steve couldn’t stop himself from laughing that time. She didn’t even register the color change and it wouldn’t help this time if he attempted to describe the purple one to her. He couldn’t remember the last time he really helped Sarah with color and shade perception, with her explicitly asking him. Even in the drawings they had hung up in the apartment, she either avoided those two colors if she couldn’t figure it out or just didn’t care. 

Sometimes the sky was light purple or Steve’s eyes were periwinkle instead of light blue, other times the purple petals were actually blue. Occasionally Steve would wordlessly rearrange the pastels, crayons, and pencils so she could attempt to see the shades or at least if it seemed more blue or purple. Neither of them acknowledged that he did it but he saw the smile of appreciation every single time. Steve and Wanda left the common room for training or relaxation, and Sarah tried to come up with something else to entertain herself with. 

“FRIDAY, play chess with me, please?” Sarah asked the AI as she set the chess board on the coffee table in the common room. 

“Of course, TinkerDarling.”

She looked up at the ceiling, unamused, muttering Uncle Tony. Pietro, who was dangling over the couch while watching TV, laughed. 

“Sarah’s fine.”

“Understood, Sarah,” FRIDAY said as a small robotic arm extended from the coffee table to play with her.

Sarah had tried to get the others to play chess but with little success. Steve thought too much about each move, Tony just talked too much, Pietro was too fast, Wanda liked to cheat. Clint refused to learn the rules. Sam and Nat were okay but didn’t enjoy it most of the time and Bruce, who Sarah suspected would be the perfect partner, was still missing in action. Bucky was fine too but he was on a mission and didn’t come back till tonight. And Thor, well aside from also missing with Bruce, Sarah wasn't sure if he even knew or was interested in the Midgardian game. 

“Sarah Elise Rogers!” Tony yelled as he entered the common room. 

“Uh-oh, government name,” Pietro said as he looked away from the tv to where Tony walked in. 

“Yes, Uncle Tony?” Sarah asked, not looking up from her game as she took FRIDAY’s bishop. 

“You know where your little boyfriend is right now?” 

That caused Sarah to put the rook in a bad spot, FRIDAY taking it, as she looked up at Tony in confusion. Sarah wasn't sure when she had acquired a boyfriend. And if she magically had a boyfriend she was very curious to learn his name and maybe meet him. 

“What?” 

“Peter Parker, that name ring a bell?”

“He should be at his house…”

“You know where he was before I took him home, no? Here’s an idea, destroying a ferry! And you knew. You knew that he’s going after whoever the hell and you didn’t tell anyone!” 

“He just wanted a chance.”

“Yeah I heard that.”

“I’m on the team, Uncle Tony. Peter can become a ful—”

“Oh we’re changing that.” 

Tony threw the briefcase down on the table. 

“Parker’s suit is in there and after this stunt you seemed to be accomplice to, yours is gonna be in there as well for the time being.”

“Uncle Tony!”

“No! No, Sarah. This was serious and clearly you two are still immature. Act like a child, get treated like one. You go to school, you go to Peter’s and do homework, you come home, you go to bed. Rinse and repeat until you’re mature enough to think simple things through like telling us what the hell is happening… FRIDAY, where is Captain Rogers?”

“Uncle Tony, wait, please…”

“Captain Rogers is in the gym sparring with Agent Romanoff.”

“Let him know I’m on the way up.” 

“Understood, Mr. Stark.” 

“Uncle Tony,” Sarah pleaded again but Tony was walking off.

Sarah sat in the passenger’s seat of the car, arms crossed. Steve pulled into the school parking lot instead of just rolling up to the front. He turned off the car and looked at his kid. Sarah's head stayed focused straight ahead, watching the students head into the building. 

“You haven’t talked to Sam or Bucky, this is the first time since the weekend I’ve seen your hearing aids in, and you refuse to look at me.”

“I’ve got to go. Math test I should study for.”

“You have a 99 in that class.”

“Because I study.” 

Sarah unbuckled the seatbelt and started to get out of the car. 

“Sarah.”

She finally turned to Steve, wiping tears. He watched her suck in a breath.

“I get it. I’m off the team, Dheaidí. There’s nothing to discuss anymore, you said it all on Saturday. We were stupid and acted like children. I would just like to get to class now.”

“Sarah—”

“May I please go to school, Captain?” she asked with an air of desperation. 

Steve faltered and nodded. Sarah pursed her lips in thought for a moment. 

“I’m going to have dinner at Peter’s.”

“I was hoping we could have family dinner.”

“Can we do it tomorrow?”

“I— Sure, Babydoll.” 

“Thank you… I promise I’ll be in a better mood when Happy drops me off.” 

Steve watched Sarah swing her backpack over her shoulders and head into the building. He sighed. He was confident in his decision but wished she would have taken it better. He couldn’t even get Sam to play good cop or Nat or Bucky. They all agreed with Tony, leaving Pietro to be the only person in the compound Sarah talked to the whole weekend. 

“Sarah!” Ned called out. “Are you okay?” 

Peter turned at Ned’s words. She came towards them looking frustrated and upset. 

“They benched me. My dad actually listened to Uncle Tony and benched me. I’m not even allowed in the training room or the lab.”

“Because of me?” 

“Don’t sweat it, Peter Parker. I’d do it again for you.” Sarah pecked him on the cheek. “Oh… shouldn’t do that since Liz asked you to homecoming. I’m pretty sure that violates some girl code rule. Catch you two at lunch.” 

She ran off, giving both him and Ned one last wave before heading off to her class. 

“You’re staring,” Ned said. “I know that look… Sarah? Really, bro?”

Peter shook his head. “What look?”

“The look you had reserved for Liz all of last year… and you’re not denying it.”

“It’s Sarah,” Peter said with a shrug. 

“And what does that mean?”

“That you’re not wrong.” 

Peter closed his locker door and he and Ned started to walk to class. 

“Are you going to tell her? What about the dance and Liz? Are you—”

“I’m still going with Liz, she asked me. That’d be a douche move to bail so close to the dance.”

“Okay and Sarah… Peter, you’re going to tell her right? Holy crap, you’d be the boyfriend of America’s Darling.”

“Me and Sarah, not happening.”

“You’re chickening out?” 

“I’m saving a friendship.” 

“Chickening out.” 

“Ned, I just got her kicked off the Avengers. I’m sure I’m the last person she’d want to date.”

Sarah entered the robotics class late, handing the teacher a slip. She strolled over to the workstation with Ned and Peter. Dropping her backpack at her feet, she set down her tablet on the table and opened up the coding that she had been working on. 

“Sorry, I missed lunch. Tina threw up after Lorraine brought the class macarons her mom brought back from a business trip to Paris. Turns out she’s allergic to almonds, who knew?” 

“Why does Sarah get to do whatever she wants?” one of the students asked. 

“Because Sarah works in Tony Stark’s lab. If she can build an arc reactor, she can build whatever she wants including… what are you working on?” 

“A Roomba.” 

“A Roomba?”

“Wanted to see if I could do it from complete scratch.” 

Sarah finished the code she had and unplugged the Roomba from the cord. Setting it on the floor, she turned it on for a test run. The Roomba rolled around the room while she monitored the tracking and its patterns on the tablet. It returned, deftly hitting the leg of her stool. She leaned over to pick it up when she spotted a letter on it. 

“Sarah,” she read out loud, having picked up the note. “Will you go to homecoming with me?”

Peter and Ned’s heads both shot up from their work to look at their friend. 

“Chris Bongiorno,” she finished. 

Sarah's eyes met her friends. She looked over to Chris and said sorry, he nodded before she could even finish asking her to save him a dance. The same lie every boy before him came to accept, she might’ve been on a mission. It was stupid, she should’ve just accepted someone asking her since there was no point in waiting anymore. But Sarah also rather go in a group with Ned and MJ instead of someone she barely knew— besides most of them were probably in it for the clout, whoever was the date to America’s Darling would definitely be all over the headlines.

Sarah wasn't expecting Steve outside of Peter’s apartment instead of Happy. She threw her backpack in the back and climbed into the passenger’s seat. The atmosphere in the car was nothing but awkward. 

“Did you guys have dessert?”

“No, just dinner.”

“Let’s go out for some, just you and me. What do you want?” 

“Cheesecake?” 

Steve nodded and started the car. Despite being in New York for a while now, Sarah had yet to go to Brooklyn. Steve stopped at a little bakery and asked for a giant slice of cheesecake. Sarah watched from the car window as he ordered, the paper bag that he took out of the car for some reason swinging stiffly at his side. He stepped out of the bakery and nodded his head for her to exit the car. Locking the door, Steve began to walk until they reached an old apartment complex. 

“Bought the place back from the Historical Society a year ago. This is where Buck and I used to live, it’s a lot prettier now.” 

Steve unlocked the door and they both walked through. He opened the window so they both could get onto the fire escape to sit. Steve opened the box of cheesecake and handed Sarah the other fork. The two ate a few bites in silence. 

“Sarah, you understand why I made the decision.”

She nodded. 

“I know it feels like the end of the world but I promise you it’s not. This isn’t permanent but it’s necessary.”

“I understand. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you or anyone else on the team. And I’m sorry for giving attitude.” 

“A little attitude was expected, you’re a teenager. I think we both forget that sometimes and maybe right now you should be a normal child and I should be just your dad. Not your captain. Just for a little bit, Babydoll.”

Sarah nodded in understanding as she ate the cheesecake off her fork. Steve smiled, the head bobbing was larger than before indicating she wasn't as upset as before. 

“I got asked to the homecoming dance,” Sarah offered up information about her day as an olive branch of sorts— to show Steve she could accept him being only her dad for a little while. 

“Really? That’s great… you don’t seem too excited.”

“It’s about the twelfth boy not that special.”

“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”

“Because I may or may not have been lying and saying we had a mission the day of homecoming and I don’t know if I’ll even make it in order to reject them.”

“You told this lie to eleven other boys before this one and he still asked?”

“They keep thinking that if the mission gets cancelled and they ask at the right time, I can say yes.” 

“I might be a long time removed from school dances but isn’t this the exact problem girls want? All the guys asking you.” 

“But they’re not the boy I wanted to ask me.”

“You want a specific boy to ask you?”

“I’m not talking boys with my dad, anymore.”

Steve grabbed the box of cheesecake, keeping it out of her reach. Sarah struggled to grab it and failed. Sitting back down, she gave Steve a side-eye and sighed. Steve watched her pick at her fingers. Sarah's phone rang and she picked it up, relieved to suddenly have a way out. 

“Sarah.”

“Hey, Peter Parker.”

“Put me on speaker and check the time.” 

She did as he said. “I’m staring at 11:59.” 

“It’s 11:59 and 49 seconds, 50, 51—” the call turned into a FaceTime and she accepted. 

“What are you doing?” 

He held up five fingers and started to put them down. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

“Thank you!”

“First one. Okay, I’m going to bed. I’ve got a math test first period. Oh wait, I learned this.” 

The phone jostled around as Peter set it up against his wall so Sarah could see him full body and he had both his hands free. 

_Who is Sarah Wilson-Rogers? A girl that’s really cool, really nice, wicked smart. Best Avenger. Peter Parker’s best friend. And I hope you have the best birthday with only happiness and smiles. You’re my favorite person ever._

“Did I get it all right?” Peter asked.

Sarah laughed and nodded. 

_Yes. Thank you._

“I have something to teach you.”

She leaned the phone against Steve’s leg. He watched as she seemed super excited and he realized he had been demoted from dad to simply a phone stand for the next couple of minutes.

 _“My best friend is Peter Parker. He’s a dork but he’s my favorite person…”_ She looked up at Steve _. “My second favorite person. P-E-T-E-R. Peter.”_

It was the sign favorite followed by a ‘P’ for Peter. He was one of the few people to get a name sign from her— not even the whole team got one, depending on if Sarah signed with them or not. 

“That’s yours now, I’ve dubbed thee Peter Parker with that name sign.”

“I’ll treasure it forever.”

“Dork. This is why I said you’re a dork.”

“Your dork, okay, goodnight. I really should sleep before that test.” 

“Goodnight.”

The phone cut off and Sarah remembered Steve was there. 

“Can’t believe the kid beat me to my own daughter’s birthday. _Happy Birthday, Babydoll.”_

He pulled the wrapped present from the bag and handed it to her. Steve had been working on the custom piece for a minute. Sarah unwrapped it to see a Build-A-Bear bunny with a necklace around it. It was a gold necklace with her name on it. 

“That’s not it, press the left hand.”

She pressed it and the little recording started to play with Steve’s voice. 

“Hi Babydoll, it’s Dheaidí. I’m so proud of what you’ve become and how far you’ve gone. I know life hasn’t been the most fair to you but not once have you let it get you down or given up on your life. You’re my best girl and I love you, okay? One of the best things that’s ever happened to me.” 

Sarah pressed it one more time to listen to the message. 

“We found some recovered files from the base you and Bucky were at, some with… press the right one,” Steve instructed.

“Hi, Babydoll. It’s mom. Oh, I don’t know if you’ll ever hear this. They might delete this once they’ve found out I recorded it but if you do, know that I’m proud of you. I’m so proud of what I know you’re going to become and how far you’ll go. We don’t have an ideal life but you can’t give up. You find your way out and fight. I love you, and I’ll love you forever.” 

Sarah looked at Steve and then back at the stuffed animal. She pressed the right paw two more times, just listening. Steve wiped the tears at her eyes. He gently took the bunny to show her one more thing. He had them place two more recordings in the torso of the bunny. 

“We also found vitals recordings… I know heartbeats help you fall asleep. These recordings are on a loop and won’t stop until you press them again. Right side is Elise’s, left side is mine.” 

Steve pressed one and then the other. The heartbeats differed in pace, Steve’s being slightly faster. Sarah pressed each button to listen to them individually. She launched herself at her dad for a hug. Steve patted her back.

“Thank you, Dheaidí. For real.”

“Anything for you. I should get you back before it gets any later on a school night.”

The two split the last bite of cheesecake and then headed back to the car. Steve glanced over ever so often during the car ride to see Sarah staring at the stuffed animal before pressing either his or her mother’s message. He didn’t wake her as they pulled into the compound. Steve swung her backpack over his shoulder and lifted Sarah out of the car, hearing the heartbeat of both his and Elise’s recordings playing. He looked at her pillow, spotting the shine of satin, and set her down. 

Sarah still didn’t stir, only snuggling more into the stuffed animal so Steve grabbed the large duvet at the end of her bed and placed it over her. Plugging her phone in, he set the alarm for slightly earlier than her usual wake-up time knowing Sarah would kill him if she didn’t wake up early enough to shower and fix her hair. Steve muttered a goodnight to her, kissing the top of her forehead, before leaving her room and turning off the lights.


	25. Chapter 25

“You look so pretty,” Steve cooed over the video call. 

Sarah was standing in the living room in her dress for the homecoming dance, Pepper holding the phone so the girl could be seen full body. Sarah shifted awkwardly in the heels— she only felt comfortable walking in them when the weight was all on her toes like a pointe shoe, but that would look a bit ridiculous the whole night. Walking back into her room, she switched the high stilettos she bought for the backup wedges. Sarah came back out and Steve couldn’t stop gushing to the amusement of Sam and Bucky. 

“Dheaidí! Dheaidí, I’m going to be late getting MJ. Dad, Uncle Jamie, stop him.” 

Sam and Bucky laughed. Bucky finally got Steve to stop while Sam took over the call. 

“One more time for us, how’s the evening going to go?” 

“I’m going downstairs where Happy’s waiting, we’re gonna pick up Ned and MJ and then go to the dance. Happy won’t be able to pick us up till the end of the dance because of moving so we can’t leave unless we get hungry then we can go to the diner across from school but nowhere else… oh, and no underage drinking, drugs, or debauchery of the sorts. Yes?”

“Yep, that’s everything. Sorry we can’t drop you off but we should be back by early morning.” 

Sarah nodded in understanding. Missions couldn’t be helped and if it was truly important to her then they would find a way out completely but sometimes, they could only buy themselves a couple hours. Sarah gave the three of them a final wave before Pepper hung up and handed the phone back to her so she could go into the car with Happy. MJ and Ned were picked up and they made it to the dance a little late on purpose so the dance would already be well on its way when they arrived. Sarah spotted Liz as she walked in and bounded over to her. 

“You look so nice,” Sarah complimented with a big smile. 

“Thanks, you look good too.” Liz looked behind her. “My dad’s grilling Peter.”

“Dad talk? That’s going to take a while, come dance with us.” 

Liz let the other girl lead her toward the group. The music picked up and they just had fun dancing and messing around. The others weren’t as enthused at first but once they realized that for Sarah, who had spent her whole life under HYDRA and then Avengers, this dance was a first for her and they started to get into it as well. The dance wasn’t like the movies Sarah watched but it was just as exciting to her.

Sarah went with MJ to go get some punch, leaving Ned and Liz for a moment. As MJ grabbed a cup, she noticed Peter finally enter the dance looking visibly shaken. He said something to her and started to walk out of the other doors, practically running when he cleared the crowd of students. MJ quirked an eyebrow and made a move when Sarah placed the cup in her hand. 

“I’ll get him, go back to dancing.” 

She left, following him down the hallway. 

“Peter!” Sarah yelled as he lifted up a set of lockers where his old suit was hidden under. 

“I’ve got to go.”

“Without me?” She looked at the suit in his hand. 

“I got you benched. I’m not hurting you again, stay and enjoy the dance.” 

“You know I can’t not help.”

“The guy with the wings is Liz’s dad.”

“What?!” 

“Call Happy or Mr. Stark or anyone, maybe they can stop him first but I’ve got to go. And get Ned, he’s kind of been my guy in the chair.”

“Okay. Go get your guy, Peter Parker.” 

“Thank you.” He looked at Sarah for a moment before pecking her cheek. 

“Hey!” Sarah called out when he got a little farther. 

“This makes it number three.” 

Peter smiled. “I owe you for a lot more than that.”

Sarah tried not to look suspicious as she found Ned away from Liz and MJ. She grabbed him by the arm and the two of them snuck away to the school’s computer lab. Ned turned on the computer to get systems online for communication with Peter while Sarah pulled out her phone. Happy didn’t answer on the first ring, not that she expected him to. So she began going through the rolodex of team members, calling anyone she could but everyone was on a mission and not answering. Pepper was also not responding, Sarah didn’t know where she was after she had left the compound. Ned finally got online with what he needed and called Peter. 

“Go for Ned.”

“Ned, Ned. I need you to track my phone for me.”

“Yeah, but where is it… got it anyway, he just passed a GameStop on Jackson Avenue.”

“Where are the headlights on this thing? I’m in Flash’s car.”

“Okay, I’ll pull up the specs.”

“Alright, you’re on speakerphone.”

“Guy in the chair,” Ned said as he spun to the computer across from the one he already had up. “You stole Flash’s car? Awesome.”

“Yeah but I’ve never driven before! Only with May in parking lots. Has Sarah gotten to Happy yet?” 

“He’s not picking up and everyone else is gone on a…”

“Alright, takeoff in nine minutes.” Sarah heard Happy’s voice through the phone. 

“Happy? Happy, look Peter’s found—”

“Not this game, look you’re benched. Go back to the dance, Sarah. I’ll pick you up when it’s over.”

“No, no Happy wait… dammit!” Sarah looked at the phone in disbelief. No one had ever hung up on her before. 

“Peter, he stopped at an old industrial factory in Brooklyn,” Ned read the GPS tracking. 

“Happy hung up. He’s more concerned with clearing out Avengers Tower, it’s Moving Day,” she said loud enough so Peter could hear. 

“Moving… he’s gonna rob the plane! Keep trying to get through to Happy.”

Happy didn’t pick up again when Sarah redialed. But the phone lit up with Bucky’s face on the screen. She had called him, Steve, and Sam about twelve times each. 

“Sarah! Are you okay, why did ca—”

“Uncle Jamie, you have to promise not to get mad and listen. I need you to listen.”

“Alright.” 

“The guy with the wings is the dad of Peter’s date, Toomes, and they’re in trouble. Happy’s not picking up.” 

“Sarah, where’s Peter right now? Is he okay?”

“Toomes is going to rob the plane for moving day, Ned where’s he now… Coney Island. We need to tell Uncle To—” 

The lights turned on and they were face to face with the Spanish teacher. Sarah quickly hung up the phone, sending one last text to Bucky in hopes that he could get through to Tony or Happy since no one seemed to be listening to her. 

“What are you two doing in here?”

“I’m looking at porn,” Ned panicked. 

The teacher raised an eyebrow and looked over at Sarah. She raised her hands in surrender.

“America’s Darling, I don’t even know what that is. I needed to call my dad.” 

“The hallway wasn’t good enough?”

“It’s about a classified mission, ma’am.”

“And Mr. Leeds could overhear it.”

“Well, you heard him, he was too busy watching porn.” 

“The dance, both of you. Now.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

Sarah and Ned looked at each other and left the computer lab, knowing there was nothing they could do with her there. MJ questioned when they came back. Whether she believed Sarah or not, MJ accepted the lie about her calling Steve and Sam on their mission. Sarah couldn’t enjoy the rest of the dance as she worried about Peter, no longer having communication. Liz had left some time while Sarah and Ned had been in the computer room. Sarah tapped her foot to the beat of the loud music more in nervous anticipation rather than enjoyance. 

She heard MJ scoff and turned to see what she was looking at. Peter was standing at the glass, suit for the dance on him and looking nice— he thought he should clean up before coming back to the dance. Sarah forced MJ to put her hand down as she was flipping Peter off. Peter laughed as he entered, watching the scene unfold. Sarah ran over and hugged him, almost knocking him back. MJ and Ned came up. 

“You know, my dad gave me cash for the diner. You guys want to use it to get a taxi back to the compound instead? We can get take out.”

The other three kids nodded and they signed out of the dance and took a taxi home. Sarah texted Happy, to be met with a string of texts apologizing for not listening. She called him to tell him not to worry as they paid the taxi driver and went back inside. 

Sam, Steve, and Bucky came back to the sound of laughter in their apartment. Sam wasn’t even surprised, checking his phone and seeing it read one am, that the kids were still up and talking like it wasn’t late. 

“Why would you teach them to sign I’m a dumbass?” They heard Peter’s voice in protest. 

“Because only a dumbass could break my Roomba!”

“All I did was turn it on.”

“It took one look at you and went nope,” MJ said. 

The three men shook their heads as they walked towards Sarah's room. Steve knocked on the door to the bathroom, even though it was open, and the four teenagers looked up. They were still in their fancy outfits, each person with an individual blanket and the pillows had been taken from the couch. Sarah set down her rice bowl in her lap to wave at them.

“You know we have a couch for a reason?” Steve asked. 

The four of them just laughed in his face causing Steve to look at the other two men in confusion. They shrugged, not knowing either. Handing the bowl to Peter, Sarah wrapped her blanket around her and stepped out the tub. 

“Can they sleep over? Please?”

“In the tub?”

“Haha, no, the living room. Or the bed.” 

“Sure. Peter, Sarah, I need to talk to you both.” 

Sarah and Peter followed Steve out of the bathroom and into his room. 

“I’m not here to yell at either of you,” Steve said when he saw the looks on their faces. “I’m checking that you’re okay?” 

Both teens nodded. 

“We’re sorry,” Peter started. 

“No, you did the right thing. You two tried to contact us first. I can’t act like I wish you didn’t get involved at all but I understand.” 

“Thank you, Dheaidí.”

“Thank you, Mr. Wilson-Rogers.” 

“Alright, you two go enjoy your friends.” 

Bucky had woken up from a nightmare around three or four. The whole apartment sounded dead and he knew that the four kids must’ve crashed hard considering before he went to bed they were still talking animatedly. He got up to get tea, quietly stalking towards the kitchen. He saw Ned on the end of the couch first, indicating that they had stayed outside. MJ was curled up on the long part of the sectional, not using half of it. He wished he had his phone to take a picture of Sarah and Peter. 

Despite all the room on the couch, Ned and MJ proving that, Sarah was sleeping on top of Peter— his hand that had been rubbing her back when the two were awake and talking was resting on her shoulder blades. Her head was tucked under his chin. Bucky filled up the kettle with water and turned on the stove. He leaned against the counter so he could immediately grab the kettle before it started to whistle and wake them up. Bucky’s attention was briefly drawn back to the couch when he heard a whimper. Before he could move, he heard Peter’s voice. 

“Hey, hey, you’re okay.”

“Sorry for waking you up, again.” 

Bucky could see Sarah's head pop up from the couch as she lifted herself so she could look at Peter.

“Spidey-senses, I would’ve heard you across the room anyway. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Unh-unh, just want to sleep,” Sarah said as she laid her head back down. 

“Okay… not that I’m complaining,” Peter said as he tapped his fingers on her back. “But you’re really warm, like an electric blanket.” 

Sarah laughed. “It’s a Rogers’ thing.” 

Bucky heard both Sarah and Peter’s breathing get calmer again. He quickly scooped the kettle off of the stove and poured himself a cup of tea before retreating back to his room.


	26. Chapter 26

When Steve, Sam, and Bucky strolled into the living room at a semi-early time in the morning, they saw the four kids were still asleep. Steve and Sam didn’t quite share Bucky’s sentiment on thinking Sarah sleeping on top of Peter was cute. Ignoring the other man’s silent protest, Steve walked over and gently shook his daughter's shoulder— the jostling causing Peter to wake up as well. Both of them were too sleepy to process Steve’s facial expressions correctly, leaving him in shock at Sarah's next words that were laced with tones of excitement. 

“Can we go out for breakfast… oh, good morning Dheaidí. Can we go out for breakfast?” she asked, her head still on Peter’s chest but turned to face Steve. 

Sam and Bucky snickered watching Steve’s stern dad act get thrown off course. For a quick-thinking captain on the battlefield, he wasn’t able to easily course correct his plans for parenting. 

“Sure.”

“Okay, but in an hour after you run. More sleep.”

“Sarah, I have to pee,” Peter said before Sarah could close her eyes. 

She put a finger to his lips.

“No talk, just sleep.”

“But…”

“Shhh.” 

Sarah's eyes flew open as she was suddenly lifted up and placed back on the couch. She forgot Peter and her had roughly the same strength. Steve chuckled as Sarah watched her friend walk away to the bathroom with a look of betrayal. 

“Speaking of running, if you want to use the gym again, go for it. We agreed this morning that you can and Tony’s letting you back in the lab. Limited plans, nothing Avenger-related.” 

“Deal! Now I can fix the Roomba.”

“You actually made a Roomba?” Sam asked as he grabbed waters from the fridge for the run. 

“Mmm hmm, Dad… oh look, the traitor’s back.”

“My bladder.”

Sarah coughed the word traitor as Peter looked at her with an unamused face. He sat back on the couch, this time with a blanket, and the two had no problem laying back down in front of Steve— not reading the room at all. Sam swooped in and pulled him away for the run before he could say anything. When they came back, the four teens were up and looking a little more alive than previously. Ned and MJ were dropped off after breakfast while Peter came back to the compound with them. The rest of the team watched from the sidelines as the two of them did light training in the gym. 

It kept going like that until it was the last week of school. Sarah and Peter hadn’t tried to go after any villains since homecoming. Sarah would train in the gym in the morning and on the mornings he stopped by Peter would join. The two of them did little things in the lab but didn’t once pester Tony if he said something was too classified for them to know. Tony smiled at the series of pictures Pepper showed him that she secretly took of the three of them— it was Sarah and Peter sitting on top of her workstation while Tony sat at the bench playing a game of three way chess. Most of the pictures were of three of them staring intently at the board but Tony’s two favorites was one of him and Peter hi-fiving while Sarah had a shocked expression on her face realizing they had been in alliance against her. The other was the three laughing over a dumb joke Sarah told. 

“They’re taking it surprisingly well,” Nat said as they watched from the common room window. 

Sarah and Peter chose to run around the compound early in the morning before school. Pietro had been challenging them both for a little while, claiming he was running as slow as he possibly could, but soon had gone back inside with the others. Everyone agreed with Nat’s observation. Sam took a sip of his coffee. 

“You know I asked her the other day about being off probation. She said whenever we say she can come back that she’s ready, but she didn’t push it.” 

They watched Sarah and Peter stop running and look around the flat area. The two of them spotted a tree and nodded running towards it, tapping the trunk and then running back. Sarah shoved Peter to throw him off balance and when he caught back up, he did the same to her. They had hands on their knees and were breathing a little heavy. They both jumped as a bolt of lightning landed near the two of them, which was strange because it was a clear day. Thor and Bruce appeared from the bolt. 

“Uncle Bruce! Uncle Thor!” Sarah cheered excitedly while running up to hug the two of them. 

“Our strongest Avenger,” Thor said jovially as he lifted her up. Thor thought it was funny calling Sarah that, anyone else tried to claim the title from him and he would stare daggers until they took it back. 

“Are you guys done with your mission?”

Thor shook his head. “We’re taking a small break but I think Ragnarok is near, I can feel it. Banner and I will need to leave again soon… Almost forgot, Happy late Birthday! I have a present for you… I hope.”

Sarah looked around him, not seeing any gift or anywhere that Thor could hold. Thor’s last present from when Sarah was a lot younger was not appreciated by Steve— it was Christmas and Thor thought it was appropriate to gift a little girl with an Asgardian wolf which got sent back the next morning. Thor didn’t realize the type of pet wasn’t the problem and got confused when one of the few pegasus they had left on Asgard also got sent back— but the pegasus was still hers, recognizing Sarah the few times Thor’s taken her to Asgard. 

“Hand,” Thor said. 

Sarah held out her hands like he said. 

“Close your eyes.”

She did as he said and was confused when after a few seconds he started laughing, muttering he knew it. Thor turned her around to face the window while the rest of the team inside looked in shock. Sarah opened her eyes to see Mjolnir in her hands— and her still standing. 

“Awesome!” 

“Go up to the roof.” 

The rest of the team watched as Sarah ran inside and took the elevator. They were surprised that the doors didn’t ding on the common room floor but kept going. Steve, Sam, and Bucky— mainly Steve— didn’t like wherever this was headed. The team’s attention was drawn back to the window as they heard Sarah's shouts of delight. Steve screamed as he saw her racing through the air being pulled at an insane speed around the compound, slowly getting closer to the ground with each pass around the large building. 

She aggressively jerked as Thor caught her and set her down. Sarah stumbled around dizzy before collapsing onto the grass. Peter did a handstand and then let himself tilt a little too far so he would fall flat on his back against the soft grass next to Sarah and they both busted out in a fit of laughter. Thor and Bruce came inside to get food and start their small break— Steve yelling at Thor while the Asgardian god just laughed in entertainment.

“Would you like a turn?” Thor offered the hammer to Steve.

“No! That’s not what I’m mad abou—”

Thor walked off to go to his room. The team turned back to the window and looked on as Sarah and Peter laid on the ground, smiling and talking about something they couldn’t hear, until the car approached with Happy driving. 

“They’re good kids,” Clint said as they watched the two grab their backpacks and get in the car. 

“Yeah, school year’s almost over. Maybe we should see how summer goes for them off-bench,” Steve suggested before picking up his ringing cell phone.

“Dheaidí? I forgot to tell you, decathlon has one more practice and we’re gonna be late coming back home, I got MJ to agree to go painting with us.”

“How late?”

“Hmm, 5? Is that okay?”

“Just fine, Babydoll.” Steve hung up the phone. “Tony is five too late for your press conference?”

“Eh, we can squeeze it in Capsicle.” 

Sarah entered the empty library at the end of the school day where the rest of the decathlon team was already sitting. Everyone except Liz whose family moved away, not even wanting to wait for the school year to finish. While no one else knew the truth behind the move, Sarah and Peter felt bad for her knowing none of it could be easy. Mr. Harrington called everyone’s attention. 

“Congrats national champions! Now I’m a little ahead of the game but we’ll need a new captain and I nominate Michelle.” 

“Actually… my friends call me MJ.”

MJ looked at Sarah, Ned, and Peter with a smile. Mr. Harrington nodded and dismissed everyone saying there was no need to start practicing for the new season right away and that they should enjoy the afternoon. As a small shock to her friends, Sarah stopped walking with Peter and hooked her arm around MJ’s instead— the two of them slightly ahead of the boys. 

“Here’s the place! The reviews are supposed to be really good,” Sarah said as they stopped in front of the paint shop. 

The bubbly receptionist greeted the four of them. 

“Hi! I called earlier, um, Wilson-Rogers?” 

“Of course. Let me just check.”

The receptionist looked in her ledger for Sarah's name and Sarah realized when she didn’t look very hard that it was an act for her sake because she already knew who the young lady was. Less than ten seconds of looking and she led Sarah and her friends towards the back of the store where the studio was set up with lots of tables and chairs. 

She directed them towards their table in the center of the room with the little chalkboard label that read Wilson-Rogers inside a large star. The four of them grabbed snacks and drinks and sat back down while people slowly started piling in for the class. Lots of people greeted Sarah as they entered but were kind enough to leave it at a simple hello before sitting at their own seats. The teacher came in and clapped to start the class, setting the music low and turning on their mic so everyone could hear. 

“Hello! It’s nice to see familiar faces and as always a welcome to our newbies whether it’s a one time thing or you like it so much you come back, we are glad to have you here. I’m McKenna, your certified Bob Ross for today’s class…”

Some patrons laughed and Sarah assumed that this must have been something McKenna always said at the start of class.

“And for today, we’re going to be painting a full moon over the ocean. Not too hard, lots of fun. If everyone would squeeze out a glob of each paint tube on the station provided and grab the largest brush, let’s get started!”

The first part was easy. But once all the paint was squeezed onto her little palette, Sarah realized it was almost all blue and purple. McKenna called for everyone to dip their brush in the darkest blue, mentioning it was the Royal Navy color for those who wanted to keep track of paints they wanted to buy and take home. MJ watched as Peter, her, and Ned got started but Sarah just looked at the palette. 

Three colors appeared to be visibly darker than the rest of the paints so Sarah just had to narrow down and make a guess as to which was the Royal Navy. Her brush hovered tentatively over one of the shades and almost dipped in before she pulled it back and went to the other one, now unsure. MJ gently grabbed the other girl's hand and moved the brush over the correct color, not saying anything. 

When Sarah went to look at her, she was already staring at her canvas again, coating the bottom of it in the dark paint. It went like that for the rest of the class. Each time McKenna would call out a blue or purple color, MJ would move Sarah's brush over the correct one and then go back to her own canvas. The class ended and there was a thirty minute period to hang out while the paintings dried up enough to be put into cars and taken home. 

“Thank you,” Sarah said to MJ as they all compared their four paintings.

“They mentioned it in a history book I was reading.”

She left it at that. Sarah and Peter parted ways with Ned and MJ to go back to the compound— well, MJ thought Peter was going home. Since he didn’t even want Ned to know, he was trying to stall MJ and his Aunt May finding out he was Spider-man for as long as possible. Sarah and Peter walked hand in hand to the juice bar near the painting shop that she told Happy to pick them up at. Peter wouldn’t let her pay for the drinks, insisting on it since she had paid for the paint session. They heard the click as Peter handed her the drink. They both looked over to see multiple large cameras. 

Evading paparazzi was something Sarah was relatively good at— mainly because they weren’t allowed on campus so as long as she and Peter walked straight to his house, they usually didn’t run into anybody. All the Avengers were subject to the tabloids and social media but Sarah, Vision, Wanda, and Clint were harder to find everywhere. She gave them a small, unsure smile in hopes that would appease them since no one had actually stepped into the juice bar. It seemed to be enough for now because as Happy’s car pulled up, they started to leave and she and Peter raced into the car in case someone tried to come back. 

Happy complimented the two paintings and they headed back for the compound. Sarah debated whether she wanted to get in a round at the punching bag or not before starting a movie. Instead of going to the residential floors— that were empty of almost everyone since they were doing office work downstairs until at least seven pm— Happy led Sarah and Peter to outside the conference area where Tony was typing away on his phone. He looked up as the two approached and jogged over. 

“Sorry I took your suit. I mean, you had it coming. But actually it was the perfect tough-love moment that you needed, right? To urge you on? Wouldn’t you think?”

“Uncle Tony, not amusing.” 

“Well, let’s just say it was. Point is I also screwed up a little with you two, we all did. You both are assets to the team. Welcome back to the Avengers, Sarah. And congrats on becoming the newest official member Peter.”

Tony pressed a button on a remote he was holding and a panel in the wall slid open. It revealed two mannequins dressed up with Sarah and Peter’s suits on them. 

“Woah,” Peter said as he looked at the new design.

“What did you do to my suit?”

“It’s— this is better, I improved it,” Tony said defensively at her scrunched up nose.

“Is my old suit still around?”

Tony gave Sarah a face before giving up and answering. 

“Your dad put it back in your closet. So after Peter’s press conference, Happy will show you your own room Spiderling, you’ve already seen the compound.”

“Press conference?” Peter asked, confused. 

“Show you to the world as an official—”

“Aunt May. I can’t do this if it’s public. She can’t know right now.”

“… okay, secret member, now you two get lost.” 

“Come on, Dheaidí just bought more Ben & Jerry’s.” 

Sarah grabbed Peter’s hand to start heading up to the residential floors and their apartment. He could pick out a room later, it’s not like he didn’t spend half his time at the compound anyway— the rooms weren’t going anywhere. 

“My Rocky Road there?”

“Yeah if Dad didn’t already eat it… oh Uncle Tony, if it makes it better, I like the pink half mask makes me look badass like Uncle Jamie.”

Tony huffed out a mix between a snort and a laugh but smiled anyway. At least Peter liked his suit and Tony guessed he could settle for the consolation prize that was Sarah's half mask. He and Happy watched like the proud uncles they were as the two ran to the elevators with a quickness. 

“Where’s the kid?” Pepper asked. “Did you guys screw this up?”

“Ran off with Baby Wilson-Rogers, probably halfway through a tub of ice cream though I’m pretty sure they’re both lactose intolerant.”

“Tony, what?”

“I know, those two are cra—”

“Tony! Everybody’s waiting. I’ve a room full of people in there looking for some announcement. What am I supposed to tell them?” 

“Think of something, how bout um, Hap. You still got that ring? The engagement ring?”

“Been carrying it since 2008.” Happy threw the ring to Tony while Pepper looked on in absolute shock with a glint of joy.

* * *

Bucky stopped in the doorway of Steve’s office. 

“Oh good, you’re here too,” he said to Sam who had come in moments earlier to file a mission report. 

“I don’t like the look on your face.” 

Sam quickly caught the phone that Bucky threw at him. Both he and Steve looked down to see he had it open to Twitter. Sarah was the top four hashtags trending: **AmericasDarling, Gemstone, DarlingsDarling** , and **SarahRogers**. They were confused considering nothing special had happened that they were aware of. Sam clicked on one of them to see lots of people commenting and tweeting all with pictures at the bottom of each tweet. Every picture was of her and Peter inside the juice bar. One was of the two holding hands while waiting in line, the other included Peter laughing at something she said. Another was of Sarah accepting the drink Peter handed to her. 

“You think they know?” Sam asked. 

Before Bucky could answer, Sarah and Peter came into Steve’s office— ice creams in hand. Steve gave her a face as Sarah sat on top of his desk with little regard for his paperwork. Peter took the small office chair. Sarah handed Steve her phone that had the same tweet pulled up that was on Bucky’s. 

“I think they know,” Steve said to the other two men. 

“We’re not dating, Dheaidí. Just thought I’d say that before you found out from the press.” 

Sam chuckled. “Trust me, if you two were dating, we’d know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Spiderling’s got a mouth on him,” Steve answered. “Speaking of Spiderling, got an alert about one of Tony’s old weapons being sold tonight around your area. You wanna take it, Queens?”

“Is this a test?”

“Not a test. You two are back on the team fully, this doesn’t seem to be too hard for a first mission. I thought you might want it.”

“Y-yes sir.” 

“Better head out now, deal’s happening soon. Details will be sent to your suit.” 

“Thank you, Captain.” 

Peter saluted to Steve, making Sarah and the other three men laugh. Peter capped the lid on his ice cream and ran out the room. He was back in less than a second to give Sarah a peck on the cheek— this wasn’t new to Steve, Sam, and Bucky but after the Twitter posts they just saw, the three of them couldn’t help but look at the gesture a little differently. 

“Last day of school’s a half-day at Midtown,” he told you. “Want to finally catch that improv show for lunch?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Parker, weapons, clock’s ticking,” Steve interrupted. 

“Right, weapons. On it.” 

Peter ran out again, grabbing his new suit, and left to go handle his first official Avengers’ mission. He smiled to himself as he heard Sarah's last statement to the three men in the office. 

“If Peter and I were dating I definitely wouldn’t call him my darling. That’s so lame Darling’s Darling, ew. He’s more of a bae, you know. Ha, Spider-bae… ugh, why am I even talking about it to you three? Probably don’t even know what bae is,” she muttered as she jumped down from Steve’s desk and went back upstairs. 

"How old does she think we are?" Bucky asked.


	27. Chapter 27

“She found out?” Sarah asked Peter as he grabbed the last of his books from his locker. 

The last day was full of people cleaning out their lockers and signing yearbooks, everyone making sure they got her to sign theirs. Peter was telling her and Ned about last night. He had stopped the people trying to sell Tony’s weapons with no real effort but didn’t expect May to walk into his room to see if he had come back from the compound. Sarah and Ned laughed as he recounted the very long conversation including two phone calls to both Tony and Steve for confirmation.

“Guess I can tell MJ now. I’m just hoping no one else finds out.”

“No one else finds out what?” MJ asked as she came up behind them. 

“Peter is Spider-man,” Ned blurted out. 

“Ned!” 

“Oh, I knew that already,” MJ said causing Sarah, Ned, and Peter’s jaws to drop. “Anyway, you two dating? It’s all over the timeline.” 

“Still?” Sarah asked, looking at MJ’s phone. 

“Everyone’s trying to figure it out. My personal favorite tweets are the ones that call Peter your darling.”

She cringed. “Those are my least favorite.”

Peter chuckled as he closed his locker. “Yeah I heard you in the office. Spider-bae, really?” 

Ned and MJ both laughed, MJ wiping literal tears from her eyes. 

“Spider-bae, I’m not letting that one go.” 

Peter rolled his eyes as he swung his backpack over his shoulder. His hand automatically found Sarah's making both Ned and MJ look with raised eyebrows since they noticed neither Sarah or Peter ever answered MJ’s first question. Peter looked at the two of them and then at her. 

“Should we invite them? You know, in case, there are more cameras?”

Sarah nodded. “Ned, MJ. Do you two want to come for lunch and an improv show with us? It won’t look as weird if we’re in a group.” 

“I’ve got nothing to do so sure,” MJ agreed. 

“I’m down,” Ned said and the four of them left the school.

“You know my dads still won’t let me get social media even though Uncle Jamie got one! What’s he even going to post? Deadass, the only people on the team without them anymore are me and Vis,” Sarah complained to her friends on the way to the show. 

“Yeah I follow the whole team,” Ned said. “Your father posts a lot of pictures of his cooking.”

“Yeah, he’s proud of himself for that. I think he likes the validation from people that’s not Avenger related. Wanda keeps trying to get him to post thirst traps.”

The other three started laughing, asking if she was serious. 

“No, for real. His response is always, and I quote, Wanda?! I am a married man… with a child.” Sarah pretended to clutch her pearls in the same fashion that Steve did any time Wanda brought it up. 

“He does know his gym selfies are all over your dad’s account, right?”

Ned showed her the accounts of everyone on the team while they got on the bus. Sarah was laughing at some of the interactions between Clint and Nat and Tony versus Bucky. Not that she would admit it at risk of hurting either man’s feelings but despite being Team Uncle Jamie for life, Tony’s insults were more clever and funny. Wanda’s account was by far Sarah's favorite, she liked to post artsy photos that she took. 

Like Peter had speculated, there were cameras at the building the show was held in when they got off the bus. The four of them darted in but Sarah was sure they had still gotten pictures before her and Peter had thought to separate their hands, ensuring a whole new round of pictures out. The PR team hadn’t released any statements yet considering they weren’t sure themselves. 

The whole building held a meeting while Sarah and Peter were at school about it and decided it was best to just hope that the situation died down— especially because if the two said they were then PR had to decide how to navigate the fact that Peter wasn’t out as Spider-man to the rest of the world. They had announced Spider-man as the newest Avenger but everyone was trying to figure out who the man behind the mask was. They also weren’t in a rush since Peter was a good kid that didn’t do anything. To them, it didn’t really matter if the public found out his name from the photos because he didn’t tarnish Sarah's “Darling” reputation. 

Unbeknownst to the other person, Sarah and Peter were both reveling in the notion that people thought the two were together. They knew they'd have to talk at some point but both of them weren’t ready to face how they thought the other felt. Instead, they held hands once inside the building and secretly looked at the pictures that they both saved to their camera rolls. 

The improv show was hilarious. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed the show, almost choking on her drink when the audience suddenly suggested her and other members of the team as characters for the actors to play in a skit. When the show ended, they decided to go back to Peter’s for a little bit to hang out before going their separate ways. MJ had suggested baking dessert and Ned suggested turning it into a competition. 

MJ asked if she could film it since she had a YouTube channel. It was small and mainly just her reviewing books in her general MJ tone but she found that she enjoyed filmmaking and editing. Sarah agreed after sending a text to her dads asking if she could since it technically wasn't going to be on official Avengers' social media. To her pleasant surprise, she got a separate text from Bucky saying that the PR team was trying to sweet-talk Sam and Steve into letting her have Twitter like the rest of them. 

“This is going to be all professional,” MJ said as she pulled two cameras from her backpack— one big one and a small vlog one, handing the small one to Ned. 

“Like the British Bake-Off or something. Team Darling versus Team Parker.”

“Wait, why do I have to use my nickname?” Sarah asked as both Ned and MJ started to film her and Peter. 

“Because Wilson-Rogers is a mouthful. So what are you two making?”

Sarah and Peter thought for a moment. 

“Red velvet cupcakes,” Peter answered. “They’re easy.” 

“If he’s doing cupcakes then I guess I will too, um, dang, I can’t think of anything else. Scratch that, I’m making apple pie… oh that is so traditional, I’m turning into my father, oh no,” Sarah gasped dramatically. 

MJ followed Peter while Ned followed Sarah around the store as they picked their ingredients— taking longer than necessary for dramatic commentary as well as getting sidetracked in the store. They finally made it back to Peter’s apartment, excited that May was there so she could judge alongside Ned and MJ making it an odd number for the panel. 

Sarah threw flour at Peter’s face, telling him to go faster so his cupcakes could go in the oven first and finish since they had to bake at a lower temperature than her pie. Peter claimed she was trying to sabotage him by having his dessert be cold while hers would be nice and warm. He threw flour back at Sarah before May yelled that any flour on the floor was being cleaned up by the two of them. Since MJ commented that the music couldn’t be something with copyright, they listened to Sarah's ballet playlist while baking. Ned and MJ occasionally turned the cameras on each other as well as May to get some judges’ feedback as they watched the competition. 

After Peter iced his cupcakes, they still had to wait a little for Sarah's apple pie to finish. There were still chunks of apple leftover and MJ got footage of Sarah sitting on the counter and throwing chunks of apple at Peter for him to catch in his mouth until the pie was done. 

“A tie?” Sarah and Peter questioned at the same time. 

She shook her head in protest. “Mutiny. This is mutiny.”

“I’m the real winner.”

“Excuse you, Peter Parker. The title of best baker is mine.”

“You didn’t win.”

“America’s Darling, I always win.” 

Sarah and Peter were arguing— MJ keeping the camera recording while Ned and May just ate their bits of dessert enjoying the show in front of them. MJ, being MJ, thought this was probably funnier than the entire competition and made a note to keep the argument in her final video. The argument led nowhere so Sarah and Peter dropped it, both claiming that they won in their heads. After cleaning May’s kitchen, Sarah gave all her friends cheek kisses and left with the announcement that she would be gone for the first two weeks of summer on a mission and then trip to see Shuri in Wakanda so contact at least for week one would be limited and potentially nonexistent. 

Peter was already at the compound training when Sarah came back. He had finally picked a room and started spending half his time at May’s and half with the Avengers as if they had dual custody over him. Knowing that Sarah had come back, Peter stopped his training and headed up to her apartment. Some point during Sarah and Peter’s probation period, he had started coming over so much that he had his own pair of house slippers in the apartment. Sarah was startled to see Peter on the couch as she came out of her room from showering and washing her hair ready to ask Steve what he was cooking since the smell had wafted down the hall and if he had seen where she had left the hair steaming cap. 

Sarah excitedly waved to her friend who had pulled up an episode of _Everybody Hates Chris_. Since the two had finished _Friends_ and _Living Single,_ they moved onto _Everybody Hates Chris_ and _Boy Meets World_. Sam had once jokingly asked if they watched anything from their generation to which they both responded _Game of Thrones_ and after the first relatively graphic sex scene came on the screen, Steve, Sam, and Bucky immediately got up and left the room— feeling extremely uncomfortable at watching any of that with two minors in their presense. The team ended up watching _Game of Thrones_ separately in the common room but on the same schedule as Sarah and Peter, enjoying the discussion and theories but without having to acknowledge the sex scenes. 

Sam, Steve, and Bucky were discussing work in the kitchen while Steve was finishing up dinner. Sarah slipped past her uncle to pour herself some tea since Bucky had a kettle on the stove before sitting down next to Peter. He hadn’t started the episode yet and looked over when he sensed Sarah staring down the side of his face. 

“What?”

“Nothing.” She pursed her lips and looked at the screen that was still paused. 

It was silent for three agonizing moments. Sarah side-eyed Peter. The three men watched as she suddenly straddled him. Steve made a move but both Sam and Bucky held their hands out to stop him, silently agreeing that they should let it play out a little more before rushing into anything. Sarah took Peter’s face in her hands.

“I’m not moving till you admit that they liked my apple pie better.” 

Bucky had to bite back a laugh while the other two rolled their eyes. All this over a competition? Sarah definitely had Steve’s competitive streak and air of pettiness.

“It’s been two weeks, you’re still on this?” Peter asked. 

“Because I won.”

“Um, excuse you, I was the winner. So get off so we can start the episode.” 

“I don’t think you understand. Even if May calls and says you need to come home, you won’t leave until you surrender.”

“Bold of you to assume I want to go home.”

“Ugh, just say I beat you.”

“Ned didn’t vote.”

“Because Ned’s too nice but we both know the vote would’ve gone to me.”

“He was practically moaning at my red velvet cupcakes. You got a satisfied smile at best… are you ticklish?” Peter asked with his eyebrow raised.

“What?”

Sarah's body lurched as Peter proceeded to tickle her in attempts to get her off of him— not giving the girl any mercy. She sunk back in laughter but refused to let go as she moved her hands from his face to his shoulders in attempts to hold him to the couch. Peter gave up and rested his hands for a moment, keeping them on her waist. 

“Why are you so strong?”

“Flattery will not distract Miss Wilson-Rogers’ agent.” Sarah upturned her nose in jest.

“Did you just quote Hairspray?” 

“Just admit it.”

“That you lost?”

“I didn’t lo—”

“You lost, Sarah, shut up and deal with it.”

“Make me.”

Peter paused for a moment and then decided to press a peck to Sarah's lips to the shock of her and the three men still watching in the kitchen. She suddenly became very aware of Peter’s hands on her waist. Her fingers drummed along his shoulders. Sarah tilted her head and observed him, Peter keeping eye contact. He would’ve been worried that maybe the kiss was a mistake but Sarah wasn't the only enhanced any more. He could easily hear her heartbeat and if he really focused using his spider vision he could see the slight tinge of pink on Sarah's cheeks from blood running underneath melanin that wouldn’t be detectable to others. 

“Still owe you two more times.” 

Her eyes darted back to his mouth. Peter leaned up to peck Sarah on the lips again, pulling away just slightly to press a slightly longer peck the third time. 

“Hi, Peter Parker,” she said stupidly. He chuckled a bit at Sarah's sudden malfunction, tucking a damp curl behind her ear. 

“Hi.” 

“Okay, new rules need to be established.”

Sarah's head shot up and Peter tilted his back over the end of the couch to see both Bucky and Sam hit Steve’s biceps. 

“You couldn’t let them have a moment, punk?” Bucky asked. 

“Yeah, babe, teen love’s already awkward as it is.”

“What?” Steve asked. “Might as well get it over with now.” 

“Dheaidí,” Sarah waited until he looked at her. “It’s Peter.” 

“Who’s no longer a friend I’m assuming,” Steve said with his Captain’s voice. 

“I won’t cross any boundaries Mr. Captain Wilson-Rogers America Falcon sirs. I, I mean I’d like to kiss her— NOT making out that’s probably a boundary cross…” 

Peter’s head came back up and his eyes went to where his hands were on Sarah's waist. He all of a sudden threw her off of him— Sarah landing on the couch with a bounce— and stood up to face her parents, wringing his hands awkwardly.

“I just like your daughter,” Peter mumbled. 

“Look what you did, Steve.” Sam laughed at the whole incident. 

Steve smiled and dropped the Captain act. “Didn’t mean to scare you like that, Queens. I trust you, Peter, you’re a good kid… hands equator and north.” 

“You know my boobs are north of the equator,” Sarah couldn’t help but mumble. 

Both Steve and Peter’s faces got red. Peter shot his hands up in a surrender. 

“Hands equator and north, sir, but not the um, the, um…” 

“Himalayan Mountain Range,” Sarah offered, making them all look at her as she shrugged. “Just sticking to the geography metaphor.” 

“You spend too much time with Tony.”

“I’m pretty sure I get that from you, Dheaidí.” 

“Really, Babydoll?”

Sarah flopped over the back of the couch, resting her chin on her hands, and batted her eyelashes dramatically. 

**“I could do this all day.”**

_Sarah. You and Peter—_

“Uh, Peter’s been learning to sign. You might as well just say it.” 

Steve tried to keep up his father act but he was smiling internally that Peter was actually seriously learning his daughter's second form of communication. Sam stepped in to help. 

“You two are young, no need to move fast at all. Take your time and just enjoy each other okay. And remember you were friends first, don’t throw that away. Peter, don’t hurt our little girl.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Thank you, dad,” Sarah said extra sweetly. 

“Anytime, sweetheart… and if you two do choose to do something anyway, please for the love of God use protection.”

“Sam!” Steve yelled as he followed the other man out of the kitchen.

“They’ve already slept in the same bed multiple times at this point, what would we be stopping Steve? Rather them be safe than sneaking around and a teen pregnancy on our hands.” 

“Okay fine but,” Steve turned back to face the two, pointing a finger. “Just don’t have sex in the first place. No heavy petting either!” 

Bucky was the last to leave, waiting till Steve was out of earshot. He leaned in close and dropped his voice. 

“Pressure her into anything…” 

He didn’t finish the threat verbally. Instead, he flexed his metal arm so the plates would shift and whir under the pressure. Peter gulped and nodded. Bucky clapped him on the back acting like nothing happened, causing Peter to cough from the amount of force behind it. He shakily sat back down on the couch once everyone had left. Sarah moved closer to him. 

“I like you too, Peter Parker.” She pecked him on the cheek.


	28. Chapter 28

##  **The Summer of Sarah Rogers:**

The PR team successfully convinced Sam and Steve to let Sarah get Twitter, just Twitter— Steve said she had to choose between Twitter and Instagram but not both. Because everyone on the team had Twitter but not everyone had Instagram, Sarah ended up choosing the former. So far there wasn’t much on it, mainly pictures of her and Shuri from her trip to Wakanda. And to T’Challa’s detriment, Sarah being allowed to have Twitter suddenly made Shuri feel the need to get one and Ramonda didn’t care so T’Challa being messed with by his younger sister and her friend was all over the Internet. 

They were smart and knew not to show anything that revealed his Black Panther status since the world only knew that Wakanda was actually technologically advanced. The two also never went too far because T’Challa was still a world leader— however Shuri claimed the videos of her messing with him made him more personable, built him up like the people’s king. He saw right through that lie but didn’t say anything and just accepted his fate. 

The interactions between Sarah and the rest of the team were the public’s favorite and the PR team definitely encouraged it— Sarah wasn't even sure if PR was necessary anymore considering everyone loved S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers but Tony assured her it was always smart to have them on deck. Anytime it was Sarah, Steve, Sam, or Bucky interacting it had been dubbed the Star-Spangled Fam. And while she didn’t post anything officially or acknowledge people’s questions, the public noticed Sarah and Peter’s replies on each other’s tweets.

It took all of three days from one person noticing her liking three of Peter’s tweets in a row for them to do some digging and see he was the same kid from the pictures at the juice bar. After that Sarah started including him in the pictures she had instead of only Ned and MJ but you still didn’t say anything. 

Sarah was in the car with Steve and Tony while scrolling through her feed. She was being dropped off at an event at the Children’s Hospital while Steve and Tony were being taken to the UN meeting discussing the possibility of creating an official global Avengers Initiative program in attempts to find geniuses like Sarah, Tony, and Bruce or enhanced like Steve, Pietro, and Wanda or just general badasses like Nat, Sam, and Clint. Even though she was going to the Children’s Hospital officially as Gemstone, the PR team had her dressed as Darling. 

Normally, Sarah was all for the cutesy fashion but even this felt like slight overkill. It was a monochrome red look— they would’ve gone with blue since Steve’s stealth suit was a fan favorite but thought it’d be ironic because of her colorblindness and irony wasn’t the mood they were going for. The red bordered being more pink especially when it came to the large reddish pink hair clips and the tinted lip gloss they put on her.

“You’re staring awfully hard at that phone,” Tony commented.

“Hmm?”

“She’s not even listening.” 

Sarah finally looked up to see him and Steve staring back at her. 

“Sorry, did you say something?”

“You’re really in the teenager stage now, I said you’re staring hard at that phone. Does it involve Spiderling?”

“Not everything is about Peter… yes. I like this picture.” 

Sarah turned the phone to show Tony and Steve a picture of her and Peter hugging, him kissing the side of her head. Steve wanted to gag even if he wouldn’t say it. So he just nodded when Tony said it was cute. 

“But it looks too romantic, I don’t think I can post it. But I like it.”

“You know you two don’t have to be quiet about it.”

“I know but he’s trying so hard to not be in the limelight as Spider-man, I don’t think being in it as my boyfriend is any better.”

“Have you talked to him about it?”

“No.”

Tony sighed and then turned to Steve. “You and your child have a serious overthinking problem and astonishingly large gap in communication skills. GI, here’s a suggestion, talk with Peter about it.” 

Sarah nodded and hopped out the car since the hospital was the closer stop. 

“Her having a boyfriend is not something I think I can get used to.”

“Welcome to no longer being the number one man in her life.” Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder. 

“Tony.”

“Hmm?”

“Not funny.”

* * *

“Family Meeting!” Sarah yelled into the house. 

Bucky and Sam walked in, confused. Steve was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes since she disturbed his nap. Sarah waited till all three of them were sitting down on the couch and looking at her. 

“I think Dad should change his uniform. He needs a star on it like the rest of us. Since Uncle Jamie’s is on his left arm, mine is on the back, and Dheaidí’s is the chest I think you should put it on your right arm. It’ll be like a connected path.” 

“I like it,” Steve said through a yawn. 

“Of course you like it.” Sam gave Steve a kiss but agreed to the uniform addition. 

Sarah smiled and walked out satisfied. 

* * *

Summer meant protective styling. But Sarah also was changing up her hair because it was too hot to be doing it constantly, yesterday having to do it for the hospital visit confirmed that. She was doing single braids with no extensions now that her hair had gotten longer. Sam had the products set up on the couch in the apartment living room— they would’ve taken the common room but Nat had already set up and both of them decided against disturbing her before she killed them. 

“National Geographic?” Sam asked as Sarah set down the remote. 

“I like nature documentaries. I’m not all science, Dad.”

“Okay, Sarah,” Sam said in the same funny, partially whiney, tone that she did. 

Sam had just finished detangling her hair and separating it into four large sections when the phone rang. The screen flashed to a picture of Peter pulling the ugliest face, making Sam chuckle a bit when he saw it. Sarah answered and put it on speaker. 

“Hello, Peter Parker.”

“Hey. They just opened up a new roller rink near Midtown last week, you wanna come? I’ll be at the compound in a few minutes.”

“Dad’s doing my hair.” 

“Oh, cool. I’ll just come up.”

Sarah and Sam laughed. 

“He’s braiding it. Five-ish hours.”

“Five?! What… can I still come over?”

“If you want, I mean you have a room here anyway.”

“But I’m coming to see you.”

Sarah felt flustered and didn’t know what to say with her dad in the room so she made a little noise of agreement and hung up on him. It was only maybe ten minutes late that Peter came strolling into the apartment, saying hi to Sam while taking off his shoes at the door. Peter sat down next to Sarah, shoulders touching. Sam bit back the urge to laugh or comment, the two were so quiet now that he was there— as if he and Steve didn’t hear the way they could talk each other’s ears off when alone. 

“Do you want to still go when my hair’s done?”

“It’s usually pretty packed at that point.” 

“Someone might see, well maybe tomorrow?”

Peter nodded. At some point he got more comfortable with Sam being there and slumped a little more next to Sarah. By hour three, he didn’t care anymore and fully laid down. Peter’s head was in Sarah's lap as Sam continued to do her hair. Once they were done, she and Peter decided to just have a date in her room instead since the roller rink was going to be crowded now. 

“Door open,” Sam said as they walked off. 

“I know,” Sarah groaned, exasperated. It was more of a joke between her and Sam:

_**Sarah had gotten tired of him, Steve, and Bucky constantly telling them to keep the door open. Not because of the door itself but the phrase and its reasoning had started to grate on her nerves. So after training one morning as a family, she sat the three men down at the dinner table. They were both relieved and traumatized as Sarah recounted every single time she and Peter had kissed, yet to make out, or hugged or held hands and the two times he had his hand in her back pocket because they saw it in Sixteen Candles and thought it was cute. Bucky was the most flustered, not wanting to know the details of his niece’s dating life.** _

_**“Besides, if we did start being active, I’d ask you to take me to the clinic to switch to an IUD or the patch.”** _

_**Bucky left the room, thanking the heavens that he wasn’t obligated as a parent to still be a part of the conversation. Sarah looked at Sam and Steve who had yet to talk. This wasn’t exactly how they planned to have “the talk” with her.** _

_**“I mean I don’t take the pill at the same time every day, who can honestly, and that’s fine now for periods but clearly not the effective method for actual birth control.”** _

_**“Well, Babydoll,” Steve said measured. “Thank you for feeling comfortable enough to discuss with us.”** _

_**“Mmm hmm…” she pulled out her phone that started to ring. “Ned? Where are you and Pete? Don’t finish it without me!”** _

**_Sam and Steve watched her jump from the chair and run into her room to get changed, telling them something about a mechanics project._ **

After that they stopped saying doors open seriously, but sometimes Sam joked around just to bug Sarah. Peter watched her press a button on the back shower wall that he hadn’t seen before. 

“Is that a projector?” 

“Yeah, I put it in a couple months ago. So much safer than using my iPad. Sit, I’ll get the stuff.” 

“I always forget that your bathtub is surprisingly comfortable,” Peter said as Sarah came back in. 

Sarah handed him the comforter and pillow to start getting comfortable while she lit her favorite candles and turned off the lights. She pulled the comforter over them both once she got in.

“FRIDAY, start the movie please.”

“Of course, Sarah.”

Sarah snuggled up to Peter as much as humanly possible. He could feel her eyes on him for longer than just a couple seconds and looked down.

“You’re thinking of something,” he observed.

“I was just… would you mind if we, um, told people about us? Like publicly? I know you don’t want to be as out there like the rest of the team.”

“As Spider-Man. But I don’t mind being your boyfriend, I’m pretty sure they’ve already figured it out anyway.” 

“You really don’t mind? You can tell me no.”

“It’s cool with me.” 

“Yeah?” Sarah stretched her neck slightly to press a chaste kiss to his lips. 

* * *

“Where are you three going?” Nat asked from the common room kitchen, making everyone else turn.

Sarah, Thor, and Bruce were dressed to go out. They weren’t trying to be sneaky on the way out but they weren’t exactly making their presence known. 

“Uncle Thor and Uncle Bruce leave for their mission tomorrow so we’re going out.”

Thor puffed up his chest proudly. “We are taking Little Lady Sarah to Target.”

The entire team straight-faced. Sam spoke up first.

“Target? Like the store… am I missing something?” 

“You guys have never taken him to one! It’s like a Midgardian Classic, second to Shake Shack. Ooh, we should go to Shake Shack!”

Thor lifted Sarah up in agreement. The team watched as she, Bruce, and Thor left— clearly Bruce was the driver. They still couldn’t believe what they had just heard, Tony questioning who the hell thought Target was a farewell outing. They got there and each of them grabbed a cart. Sarah proudly displayed Steve’s credit card that she swiped from his wallet. 

After seeing the card, Bruce declared he was snitching— Steve just sighed and let it happen. Sarah and Thor set rules, each individual item couldn’t be more than twenty dollars otherwise who knows how expensive the cart could get. Bruce was the official timer, Sarah and Thor had six minutes to put whatever in their cart that they thought the other person would enjoy. 

Steve shook his head as they came back with large bags and the milkshakes from Shake Shack in their hands. Sarah sheepishly handed him his credit card back, feeling a lot less bold returning it in person— she could’ve used hers but it still had a limit on it since she was a highschooler and she didn’t know how much it would be. As an apology Sarah gave Steve the money back from her account and handed him a shake, slightly melted. 

“Once more before I leave?” Thor asked as he held out the Mjolnir. 

“No, no, no Thor! Sarah!”

Neither of them listened and Steve watched his daughter once again be pulled rather violently through the air by Mjolnir. Despite the shouts of joy, Steve couldn’t see how she was having a good time at all. 

* * *

“You know you kind of scare my friends, Uncle Jamie?” Sarah asked as she worked on Bucky’s arm.

Bucky looked at her in a little bit of surprise. 

“You scowl a lot.” 

That made Bucky laugh because he knew that was true. Scowl was a permanent feature on his face when resting. Anyone that saw him in the comforts of the compound knew otherwise but even his social media didn’t have many smiling pictures so no one else even believed it. 

“It’s Ned isn’t it?” Bucky questioned with a hint of amusement in his voice. 

“It could be MJ, you don’t know.”

“I’ve met MJ. I know she’s not afraid of me.”

“Just maybe don’t do the arm thing around him.”

She closed the top panel around the shoulder area and moved towards the wiring in the forearm. Any time Sarah worked on his arm, she liked to change the color of the casing around each wire just because. She started to swap out the red ones for yellow, making new notes as to what they connected to and meant. 

“I do the arm thing to scare your boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I know. Peter lowkey won’t put his arm anywhere near my waist if you’re in the same room. It’s like a Pavlovian response every time he hears the plates clicking.”

“Perfect.” Bucky smiled, slowly nodding his head. 

“That’s not… well it makes Ned almost piss himself every time, can you maybe back off just a little bit?”

“Of course, little doll. I’m not trying to scare your friends.”

“Thank you, Uncle Jamie.” Sarah closed the paneling and they both left the lab.

* * *

Per MJ’s request, Sarah, Ned, and Peter found themselves at some coffee shop to listen to the slam poets. MJ wasn’t there really to enjoy the poetry but to watch the people in the audience’s miserable faces whenever a bad poet came on. The shop had those large, vintage fabric armchairs, ottomans, and couches. The four of them had large mugs of coffee drinks— except for Ned who couldn’t get past the taste, even of the sweeter coffee drinks that Sarah chose, and was drinking juice. 

Sarah's head was on MJ’s shoulder instead of Peter since the two chose to share the big armchair and mismatched ottoman. He looked over every so often as Sarah intently watched the stage and MJ intently watched the crowd. Even when the open mic ended and they were just walking the streets of New York aimlessly, she was arm in arm with MJ. 

“Peter’s sulking!” Ned announced.

“Ned! I’m not…”

“Are you upset I stole your girlfriend?” MJ looked back to where Ned and Peter were a few steps behind. 

Sarah smiled and continued walking with MJ until they reached the crosswalk where she switched with Peter. 

* * *

“You said I could come to you for whatever I can’t tell Dheaidí,” Sarah said as she watched the cows graze in the open field. 

“What’s on your mind, kiddo?” Clint asked. 

“How do you get a boy to kiss you? Like kiss you kiss you.”

Clint choked. “Um, you just go for it I guess. Do I even want to know where this is coming from?”

“I think Peter’s afraid to kiss me. Only pecks. I mean I like it but I want a kiss, you know?” Sarah stressed the word kiss.

“He’s probably worried you’ll think he’s a bad kisser.”

“But he’s my Peter I won’t thi— what if he thinks I’m a bad kisser?!” 

Clint looked at Sarah and then out at the cows. He rang the bell so they could start coming in from the field.

“Yep, that’s enough teenager for this morning,” Clint muttered to himself as he watched the cows come in.

“I can still hear you.”

“Take out the hearing aids and I’ll say it again.”

“Ugh, ru—” 

Clint smiled at her as he took out his hearing aids. They both laughed and he threw an arm over her shoulder as they walked back to the house where Lila and Cooper had just woken up, ready for breakfast. No one else had come to the farm but Sarah. She wanted time with the first extended family that ever made her feel welcome. So Sarah was spending a few days at the farm and then Clint was coming with her back to the compound for his actual job. Cooper and Lila finally convinced her to play baseball again, she was absolutely terrified to try at first despite having a handle on her strength but eventually caved. 

* * *

Pietro and Wanda were not Steve’s kids— more Clint’s— but they were a hundred percent Sarah's siblings. Pietro was testing her and Wanda’s powers, seeing if they could catch the forks he threw as he threw them a little faster each time. Sarah's detection of vibrations was getting stronger. Ever since learning how to harden certain parts of her body on command, she realized that adding an extra relatively visible layer of diamond on her feet caused her to react to the vibrations quicker. The sound waves bounced off of rock instead of absorbing into soft skin and she heard/felt the echo quicker. 

“You think you can pick up if the vibration is me knocking over other sounds?” Pietro asked. 

“Sounds like what?” He piqued Sarah's interest. 

“Like loud music or lots of people talking?”

“Let’s try it. FRIDAY, play something loud and Nicki Minaj or Missy Elliott please.”

It was harder with the bass practically radiating through the floor. But Sarah and the twins were enjoying the challenge. Pietro knocked in various styles to try and throw the girl off, forcing her to really focus on which were his knocks versus the music. 

“Ha, I win!” Pietro said as the last fork hit Sarah in the forehead when she turned too slow. 

“Only because you knock a fraction of a second slower than you should’ve, cheater.” 

“I did no such thing! You’re just slower than the speed of sound.” 

“The sound of your knock travels faster than the fork so it’s definitely your fault.”

“Nope, not how it works. You’re just slow.”

“Not how… that is exactly how it works. Wanda?”

Sarah laughed as Wanda lifted her brother into the air. Clint came downstairs to see the two laughing and then looked above him to see Pietro in mild distress and waving at him. 

“Uncle Clint, tell Pietro he’s a cheater.” 

Clint looked up again. “Uh, Pietro you’re a cheater.” 

“You don’t even know what happened.”

“You’re right and I don’t want to.” 

He walked over and hi-fived Sarah before getting what he came into the common room for and leaving again. Eventually, Wanda set Pietro down after he promised to cook for the two if she set him down and Sarah admitted he was the winner and didn’t cheat. While the two of them went to the couch, Pietro picked up the fork from the floor. 

“Hey, Doll. Think fast.”

Sarah caught it without even looking. 

“I’m not—”

“My doll,” Pietro mimicked her. “I know.”

* * *

Bucky and Sam had left on a mission separate from Steve who was with Wanda. It was one in the morning when he slipped back into the apartment before he heard the crying. Steve raced to Sarah's room, already knowing that was the source of the sound. She didn’t hear him come in, the hearing aids resting on her nightstand— and she was so in her own head, she wasn't straining to hear him or feel the vibrations as Steve entered the room. 

He sat down across from her on the bed and when Sarah saw his face, she bit down on her fist and looked away at the curtain drawn window. Steve watched her shake her head. The light from the lamp made the tears rolling down her face glisten. He gently reached for her hand. Noticing the stuffed animal had fallen onto the floor, Steve leaned over and picked up. the bunny to place back in Sarah's hands. She grabbed a single hearing aid and put it in. When Steve still didn’t speak she looked at him.

 _What’s wrong, doll?_ Steve asked. 

_It’s stupid. Forget it, Dheaidí, just stupid._

_You’re crying. Whatever it is isn’t stupid._

Sarah sighed and shook her head. Steve knew she wasn't going to talk, not right away. He told Sarah he’d be right back and she heard the clatter of cabinets and cooking ware. Normally tea was her thing but Steve felt a good old-fashioned hot chocolate was needed. 

He came back with the two big mugs, setting Sarah's in her hand and his on the nightstand, before heading to her little vanity. Steve knew where everything was considering he was usually the one Sarah directed to organize things if new packages of whatever she ordered were delivered while she was away on a mission. 

“I know this is really you and Buck’s thing but I think I can be a decent substitute,” Steve said as he placed the candle in the candle warmer she recently bought— well Thor picked it up from the Target adventure. 

He put on the masks with her and sipped the drinks until it was time to take them off. Sarah cracked a smile when Steve purposely slurped loudly, getting whipped cream on his newly growing in mustache-beard combo. She did the same and then the two of them took a picture that he sent to Sam. 

“Babydoll…”

“I thought I was over it.”

“Over what, Sarah?”

“You should be asleep right now Dheaidí. I should wake up and be happy to see you… WHY AM I SO DUMB?”

Steve set down his drink and pulled her close to him. “Woah, woah woah. Babydoll, you’re not dumb. Why would you be dumb for… is this because the mission was longer than I told you?” 

“I wanted to prove I’d be fine. You guys don’t always have to call because I’m worried.”

“Sarah, we call because the entire team understands that you—”

“I shouldn’t though! I’m sixteen, I shouldn’t still have separation issues… it’s like HYDRA still controls me, Dheaidí, I just wanted to be strong, like you,” Sarah whispered the last part. 

Steve rubbed her shoulder. “You’re sixteen, you don’t have to be strong. Sarah, honey, be honest with me. How many nights have you stayed up crying since I left?” 

“After the second day of it running long.”

Steve continued to rub circles on her shoulder. That meant she had been crying for five nights in a row. Sarah had told him that he didn’t have to call— that no one on the team had to call. He had hesitated but she insisted on it because she wanted them to stop feeling obligated to call her, especially because it wasn’t lost on her that sometimes the team would put themselves in less than safe areas or situations in order to be able to call her. 

“Call me, okay? If you ever start to get worried about us on a mission, I don’t care what’s going on, you call me.”

Sarah nodded and sniffled. Steve pulled back so he could look at her. Holding her face in both hands, Steve wiped at Sarah's tears with his thumbs. He pulled the corners of her mouth into a little smile before he let go. 

_There’s my sweet girl._

Sarah almost knocked the wind out of Steve as she hugged him tight again. 

“I couldn’t stop thinking you weren’t coming back. I don’t know what I’d do if you didn’t come back.”

“I’m always coming back to you, Babydoll.”

Steve waited until the sobs had turned into a soft snore. He set Sarah back into a good sleeping position, tucking her in, and turned off the lamp. Steve walked out to finally change out of his suit and go to bed himself. It wasn’t the most peaceful sleep. It was too light as if he was listening still in his sleep for any sound of his kid in distress. 

* * *

Sarah, Ned, Peter, and MJ were laying out in the front yard of the compound. They were having a painting picnic. Sarah had enjoyed the session at the paint studio, having gone back a couple times, but she wanted less of a classroom vibe. The canvases were drying off to the side and the four of them were talking. Ned was going on about a classic movie he had seen. 

Peter was leaning back, resting on his hands, while Sarah had her head in his lap. They all laughed when Ned had to backtrack after realizing he forgot a major plot point in his summary for them. Peter sat up a little to drum his fingers along Sarah's shoulder. His hands lightly brushed her braids before he pulled back. 

“Oh, can I touch your hair?” he asked, slightly flustered. 

Sarah nodded. “Yeah, Pete. I don’t mind if you want to play with my hair.”

Peter was very gentle with her braids. He enjoyed just moving them around. Towards the end of Ned’s very long summary, he had yet to get to his actual review, Steve had come outside. 

“You kids having a good time?”

“Yeah, Dheaidí,” Sarah said at the same time the other three said ‘Yes, Mr. Wilson-Rogers’. 

“Where are you going?” Sarah asked, noticing Steve was dressed business casual but had his shield with him.

“Small S.H.I.E.L.D. meeting I need to leave for in a couple minutes but I was told someone wanted to throw the shield?”

Ned’s eyes were the size of dinner plates as Steve handed the shield to him. Steve turned Ned to face the open field and showed him the very basic of how to hold it and throw. He heard Sarah talking to her friends about it one afternoon and didn’t think it would be too much of a bother to let the kid try it once. Ned’s throw didn’t get very far at all but he thought it was awesome and they cheered him on anyway. Steve grabbed his shield from the grass and jogged off to leave for the meeting while Ned now started to go on about the throw.

* * *

Sam could feel the waves of insecurity coming off of Steve like heat waves in the desert. He noticed it earlier in the morning when he was redoing a couple of the braids around the perimeter of Sarah's head but brushed it off thinking it was because the man just woke up. Then Sam noticed it again when MJ came over that afternoon and the two girls were in the living room watching **Sister, Sister.** They were dancing to the theme song while he, Steve, and Bucky were filling out mission reports at the dining room table. Sam jokingly said something to which the two replied with the classic: Go away, Roger. Making the three of them laugh and then laugh even harder when they remembered Sarah and Sam's last name was Rogers. 

And then Steve was quiet all dinner, which for him wasn’t normal at all. Sarah had been talking about her visit to her mom’s side of the family and hanging out with Aunt Taylor. She mentioned the cookout and Sam started to tell stories about his own family gatherings over the years. He paused mid-thought. 

“We haven’t had one in a couple years, should call up my brother about that. Ooh, they’re gonna run their mouths. ‘You got married, got a kid and still ain’t find it necessary to come see us. I see how it is Samuel.’ That’s my mama by the way, she really sounds like that.” 

“We should go!” 

“They’re going to fawn over you sweetheart… even though you’re too damn spoiled as it is,” Sam joked. 

“You call it spoiled, I call it bougie, Dad.” Sarah flipped her hair, making Sam snort. 

“What do you think, babe? We spoil her too much or is she living her best life?” 

“Does Dheaidí even know what bougie is?” she laughed. 

Steve laughed with the two of them but didn’t engage much in conversation. And he stayed quiet after that and well into the evening until Sarah had gone downstairs because Peter was staying at the compound that week and he and Sam were on the couch. 

“Okay, what’s up with you?” Sam finally asked. 

“Hmm?”

“You’re moping. You’ve been moping all day.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair before leaning against the couch, not really looking Sam in the eye. 

“Am I a good parent?”

“Steve, what? Why would you even ask that?”

“I feel like I’m holding Sarah back. You can relate to her so much and she has Elise’s family now that she connects to… I’m just never going to fully understand her experience and I think I might’ve been, what’s the thing you guys were talking about, white-washing her? Shit, Elise could’ve done so much better than me.”

“Okay, one, take a breather. Two, yeah you’re right, you’ll never fully get what it’s like for her. But you are the best dad she could have. The way you try so hard proves it, you took a day just to drive to DC for her to go to the African American Museum because it was the Smithsonian one. I’ve never seen a search history more dedicated to how to do hair or every little thing Sarah says. That kid’s yours in all her blonde hair brown skin glory and she always goes to you first. You’re a good dad, Steve. No one thi—”

“Dheaidí!” Sarah yelled as she stomped back into the apartment, blanket wrapped around her. “Tell Uncle Tony to stop sending my boyfriend on missions when we’re cuddling!”

Sarah pouted and purposely walked with heavy footsteps to the couch, sitting in between her dads and flopping over Steve dramatically— her feet and face were the only parts of her visible out of the large blanket that they could tell was Peter’s. Sam gave him a face of ‘I told you so’. Steve looked down at her to see Sarah's cheeks puffed out in annoyance. Sam flicked her forehead, which made Sarah poke her tongue out at him, and left the living room. Sarah still hadn’t moved, sighing loudly. 

“Dheaidí?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to get Peter Parker to kiss me,” she said with such determination.

“I’m sure you are, Babydoll.” Steve said, not nearly as enthusiastic as Sarah, as he poked her cheek.

“Next time Uncle Tony interrupts, I’m gonna kick his butt.” 

“I’ll hold him down for you.”

“Dheaidí?”

“Yes, Sarah?”

“I love you, I don’t think I’ve told you that.”

That made Steve truly smile for the first time that entire day. 

“I love you too, Babydoll.”

* * *

“Dheaidí! Fight me!” Sarah was a little too pumped as she entered the training room. 

“I’m not sparring with you.”

Steve really only fought with Bucky otherwise he used the bots, they could withstand a punch that could potentially knock out the teeth or bruise a rib of other teammates. Sarah grabbed his forearm as he tried to hit the punching bag, stopping him. Of course the rest of the team stopped what they were doing to see if Steve would give in. Sarah didn’t fight with most of them either for the same reasons as Steve. Bucky didn’t mind sparring with her because he had already been doing so since she was younger. 

“I’m tired of the bots and Uncle Jamie pulls punches.” 

“Babydoll…”

“Please. Or are you afraid you’ll lose?”

Steve huffed out a laugh. Bucky hadn’t been paying attention the whole time because he was sure Steve would say no but the minute Sarah taunted him, Bucky’s head shot up because his friend couldn’t say no to a challenge. Steve knew he was taking the bait but they both were petty and he didn’t care. Sarah smiled and got in the ring as he started taking the wraps off of his hands. 

“Don’t worry old man, I’ll go easy on you.”

“Old man?”

“I’d feel bad severely beating the elderly.” 

The others tried not to laugh. 

“I want you to know I have no problem beating children. How old are you?” 

“Sixteen?”

“Then I’m sixteen too, let’s go kid.” 

Sarah had to use a mix of strategy since Steve did beat her when it came to brute strength. She had been retested against his scores and was now one-third of his. It was clear that his serum jacked DNA still worked like normal genetics. Sarah would only get up to half of his scores once she reached peak but considering it was half of something super-human, she would still be remarkably powerful. 

After Sarah had hit him hard twice, Steve stopped pulling punches like Bucky. She started hardening her skin in the exact areas he punched with the visible diamond layer, not just defending herself but actually making it a little painful for him when he hit her. Steve realized he’d have to hit twice in a single punch so Sarah couldn’t predict where the second one would land and create the extra hard casing. She made one misstep and Steve knocked her flat on her back. Sarah coughed and held her hands straight in the air, wiggling them a bit. 

“Told you I got no problem beating children,” he said, jokingly as he helped pull her up. “You okay, Babydoll?”

The smile on Sarah's face told him she was absolutely fine. 

“That was fun, let’s do it again.” 

Steve reluctantly agreed to add sparring with Sarah at least once a week to training.

* * *

Steve nearly had a heart attack when he woke up to see Sarah's face looming over him. 

“Happy Birthday, Dheaidí… move over.”

“How are you the bossy one on my birthday?” Steve said as he sat up and moved onto Sam’s side of the bed that he realized was empty. 

“How does it feel to technically be a century? What age are you supposed to be? Do you put that you’re in your thirties on forms or your actual age? Because I would put the technicality, get all the senior citizen discounts. 100, that’s wild, Dheaidí. You’re old,” Sarah said as she got on the bed. 

“Uncle Tony wanted a big party but I said we should wait till you pass 100. So we’re having a barbecue in the backyard. But Ms. Jessica said you still have to do the Skype calls with CNN and CSPAN. And you have to post a picture, so…”

Steve groaned forgetting he still had to do work on his birthday and even though he couldn’t control his birth he was really hating being born on Independence Day. Sarah grabbed his phone on the nightstand and typed in the password— it wasn’t that hard to guess considering it was his wedding date. Flipping to the front camera, she made Steve pose and took a selfie with him. He watched her edit the lighting and colors of the picture as if they took it in an actual studio and not his bedroom before she passed him the phone so he could post it on Twitter with some lame caption Sarah always made fun of him for. 

Bucky and Sam came in with trays of food. Bucky wanted to put ninety-nine candles on Steve’s birthday pancakes but Sam wouldn’t let him so he settled for the sparklers instead and throwing confetti at Steve’s face before sitting down. The four of them ate breakfast in bed and spent the better part of the morning celebrating Steve’s birthday as the small family they were before the huge barbecue. It wasn’t huge because Tony invited the entire city. Instead it was because Elise's side of the family was invited and Sam’s family came over too. 

Steve was truly having a good time as everyone ate and played around before the fireworks started. Sarah's Aunt Taylor sent him the picture that she took of Sarah, him, Sam, and Bucky at his request. It was the first posed photo the four of them actually took as a family. He made it his new lock screen, the home screen being the photo of Sarah and him with the hot chocolate.

* * *

Sam, Steve, and Bucky watched Sarah from the table stroll back into the apartment for breakfast humming something a little too chipper for the early time of day. She did ballet as best as she could, trying not to slip in her socks against the hardwood, while grabbing two bowls and some spoons. Steve peeped the outfit first as Sarah went to the fridge to get milk for cereal. 

“Babydoll.”

“Yes?”

“Where’d you get the hoodie?”

“It’s Peter’s.”

“I’m gonna regret asking,” Steve muttered to himself before directing his attention back to Sarah. “Were you in Peter’s room the whole night?” 

“Yeah. We have to watch all of **Attack on Titan** before the new season comes out, you know. It’s more fun on his laptop than the TV. I’m running on like two hours of sleep but worth it.” 

“You slept there?” Sam asked. 

Bucky already started packing up his stuff, ready to dart out the minute he sensed it going someplace he didn’t like. 

“Mmm hmm.”

“Please tell me you two were safe, at least—”

“Oh, God, Dad, no!” Sarah took her cereal and started to leave. “Remember when I said I’d ask you to take me to a clinic.”

“Well we know that it could suddenly feel awkward or that you might feel like we’d judge you. But no one’s judging, you can make decisions,” Steve started. “But we want you to still feel like you can—”

“Dad, Dheaidí! Hasn’t even touched a boob, I’m a virgin, just fine being a virgin…”

The door opened and Peter came in. He didn’t bother with house slippers since he wasn’t staying for long, they were just supposed to get cereal so the two could continue the marathon. Sarah didn’t even turn around knowing they could see that Peter didn’t have a shirt on considering she was wearing the matching hoodie to his sweatpants. 

“Good morning, Mr. and Mr. Wilson-Rogers. Morning Mr. Barnes,” Peter said as he grabbed the second bowl from Sarah, completely oblivious to what was going on. 

“Hey, kid,” Bucky said, now enjoying the awkward atmosphere that had just been created. 

“On God it’s too early for this,” Sarah said with a sigh. 

She stabbed the cereal with her spoon, aggressively taking a bite, and walked out of the apartment. Peter looked at Sarah walking away and then at her dads. Steve just held a hand up, shaking his head. Peter opened his mouth to ask something and then decided against it and followed his girlfriend out of the apartment. 

* * *

Peter picked up his phone the moment Sarah's face appeared on the screen. 

“Happy birthday! I’m sorry I’m not there.” She frowned. 

Sarah had a mission that she had to go on and knew that by the second day there was no way she would make it back for Peter’s birthday. So she waited by the phone until it turned midnight and FaceTimed Peter. 

“I’m giving you the biggest birthday kiss when I get back.”

“You’re the best girlfriend ever.”

“Because I have the best boyfriend ever.” 

Sarah listened to Peter talk about what he was going to do for the day, including MJ and Ned taking him out. Peter loved to stay up and more importantly wasn’t on a mission so he was talking animatedly. But slowly Sarah had stopped answering as enthusiastically and her eyes stayed closed for longer and longer until he noticed she had fallen asleep. Peter smiled at the phone, taking a screenshot, and then whispering goodnight to Sarah before hanging up the phone.

* * *

“You gotta admit, they’re kind of cute,” Steve said as he and the others headed towards the pool area outside where Sarah and Peter already were. He wouldn’t admit it, at the risk of sounding too old-fashioned and a hovering parent, but he was glad to see she was in a one-piece. 

“Young love. Disgustingly sweet,” Clint muttered making the team laugh. 

They watched as Sarah and Peter were tangled up with each other on the concrete despite the pool chairs behind the two— he was sitting cross-legged, Sarah in his lap facing him, also cross-legged but with one stretched out and wrapping around him. He was leaning back on his hands. Sarah had the bowl of fruit that Bucky had been looking for before giving up and coming downstairs with the others in her lap. The two of them were joking about something, pieces of fruit in both hands and Sarah's head thrown back mid-laughter— the large bun on top of her head bobbing back and forth. 

Peter took the tangerine slice she fed him. His hands grabbed hers now that they were free and the two were just swinging them back and forth as they talked. Sarah suddenly frowned and tapped at her hearing aids before taking them out and looking at them. The team saw how she didn’t put them back in, she must’ve forgotten to charge them. Peter adjusted himself to sit up straighter. 

_All over. Some of it got in my mouth and honestly key lime pie isn’t that bad… He had surprisingly good aim in fourth grade._

The adults smiled as Peter seamlessly switched to signing and so did Sarah. He didn’t have to, considering she was sitting literally on him and facing him so she could read his lips as well. Peter took another tangerine slice that Sarah fed him as he moved on to a different story from elementary and middle school. She pecked him on the lips, tasting the bit of juice that was on his bottom lip. Sarah didn’t back away from him completely. Both of them were too nervous to move. 

“You think either one’s gonna do it?” Wanda asked. The others shook their heads in varying degrees of intensity. 

Peter’s arms wrapped around Sarah, one of his hands holding the wrist of his other. He leaned in closer until his mouth was on hers. Peter’s lips tasted like the tangerines they had been eating. It started off a little awkward, both of them trying to figure out the correct placement of their lips, before finding something they both liked. Peter removed one of his hands from around Sarah's back and used it to tilt her chin up a little bit. 

“No tongue!” 

Clint shouted causing Peter to jump back, face red. Sarah turned her head in the direction he was looking and saw the others at the doorway, smiling at his expense. She realized they had just seen the two of them making out and buried her face in the crook of Peter's neck. The others broke from their trance of giggling by the large glass doors and came outside to enjoy the pool like they wanted to. Peter leaned his head down so his mouth was by Sarah's ear. 

“That wasn’t a bad kiss was it?” he asked in a tentative whisper.

“No, I liked it… I wasn’t a, uh, bad kisser was I?”

“Unh-unh,” Peter said while shaking his head. 

Nat took the pool chair right behind Sarah and Peter to lounge in the sun and tan. Pietro and Bucky strolled over first to grab some fruit out of the bowl. 

_I’m hot_ , Sarah signed, dramatically. 

_Want to swim?_ Peter asked.

She set the bowl down and got off of him, pulling him to his feet with all her strength on purpose. Sarah picked Peter up and carried him to the pool, throwing him in. He appeared from out of the water, wiping it from his face and brushing his hair back. 

_You know I’m getting you back right?_

Sarah jumped into the pool before he could do anything. Peter just smirked at her and she didn’t know why but definitely felt like something was off. Sarah was in the part of the pool where if she dropped from her toes her nose would be under the water. She was about to so she could pick up a vibration from the concrete, thinking something was weird. But right before Sarah dropped, she was lifted into the air and thrown, landing behind her attacker with a splash. She popped back up to see her traitor of a father hi-fiving her traitor of a boyfriend. 

_Dheaidí!_

_Sorry, doll._ Steve smiled before swimming off. 

_I don’t like you anymore_ , _Peter Parker_ , Sarah signed with an eye-roll. 

_I still like you anyway._ He swam up to her and pulled her closer.

_Want to get my dad back?_

Sarah and Peter swam up to Steve and splashed him in the face.


	29. Chapter 29

“Dheaidí, it’s a field trip. We have a bus for a reason, you don’t need to drop me off.” 

“I’m already headed that way anyway, it’s not a bother.”

Steve watched Sarah dry her hands after washing the excess coconut oil off of her palms from the last minute choice to moisturize her hair a bit more. His hair was starting to become darker over the years, especially now with the beard but Sarah's curls seemed to still be the honey blonde of his past. Especially the ends that were strikingly bright compared to the roots that were very very slowly darkening to more honey than blonde. 

“Aunty Nat’s gonna yell at you if you’re late to the quinjet again. I. Will. Be. Fine.” 

Sarah accented each word with a push to get Steve out the door before he was late. Happy was taking her and Peter to school super early because the juniors were going on a field trip with a semi-long bus ride. 

Steve, Sam, and Nat were meeting Pietro, Vision and Wanda to check in on their mission before heading out for a bunker in Taiwan. Bucky would’ve gone with them but T’Challa requested Avenger help for a mission and the trusted “White Wolf” was clearly the preferred option. Everyone was out Avengering in some form except Sarah and Peter who for once were content with just going to school— and Clint, who was with his kids for the week. Steve chuckled and stumbled out the door, grabbing his shield and Sarah's backpack. They both walked down to the garage where the others were waiting. Sarah gave Nat and Sam a hug goodbye before taking the bag from Steve. 

“Have a good day at school,” he said as the bag left his hand.

“Have a good mission.” They both hugged and kissed each other on the cheek. 

Peter came down seconds later and threw his arm over Sarah's shoulder as she walked with him to the car. She turned around when Steve called her name. 

“What do you want from Scotland this time?” 

“Ooh, a little statue of a yak, I accidentally broke the other one.” 

“Noted. Alright, Babydoll, see you soon. One week.” Steve held up a pinky. 

“One week.”

Sarah nodded, holding up a pinky as well. She and Peter got into the car ready for a school day that wasn’t actually at school. Over the summer everyone had pretty much come to know that she and Peter were together. Although, a lot of guys didn’t believe it and were positive Sarah would be breaking up with Peter any day now. And because the two of them were joined at the hip around the compound they had no problem sitting with their other friends instead of each other on the bus. It was perfect for Sarah since she and MJ were ready to just read. Sarah pulled out a book to swap with her friend. 

“This is a textbook,” MJ said looking at it. 

“No,” Sarah defended. “It’s an anthropology full of mythologies from other cultures. I dog-eared my favorites for you.”

“Okay, I’ll try it. Here’s mine.” 

MJ handed the girl her pick. 

“Oh, I’ve never read _Gone With the Wind_.”

“Really? I was struggling to think of something you hadn’t read.”

“Yeah,” she said as she flipped open to the first page. “My mother said it was racist and wouldn’t let me read it so young, just never got around to it after I guess.” 

“I mean she’s not exactly wrong. But it’s an interesting read.” 

They both sat back and let their eyes scan the pages. Sarah looked up for a brief moment as the bus went over a bridge and saw the newest billboard promoting new technology from Stark Industries. It was for nanotech that she had actually helped Tony with. She took a picture to send to him and Pepper who were taking a fake honeymoon in the main city of New York— he had taken her so many places over the years that the city seemed like a foreign place. Tony sent back a picture of Pepper tying her shoe as they finished their morning run. 

Peter felt all the hair on his arms stand up. Not from the chill of the bus, but spidey senses. He looked out the window behind him to see a giant spinning spaceship. Well, he wasn’t sure if it was a spaceship considering it looked like a giant bicycle tire made entirely out of metal. Peter reached over the seat to tap Sarah on the shoulder. She put the bookmark in the book and closed it, turning to see what Peter wanted with his incessant tapping. She looked at what he pointed at, mouth agape. Peter pulled Ned’s earbuds out of the boy’s ear. 

“Ned, I need you to cause a distraction. Ther—”

“Holy crap,” Ned whispered as his eyes went past Peter. “We’re all gonna die! Spaceship!”

Ned’s yelling and pointing made all the other students on the bus scramble to the back to see. Sarah and Peter looked at each other and shrugged, that was one way to do it. Slipping on her gloves and his webslingers, Peter whipped them both out of the bus and underneath the bridge. Sarah held on tight as they swung towards the danger— she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to the swinging. 

When they got relatively close, they quickly slipped on their suits and comms and started to assist in the evacuation of nearby people. They figured once the civilians were out of the way, they could go fight the danger. Sarah heard the word Hulk followed by a very loud no. Peter nodded and the two of them swung towards the sounds. 

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter said as he blocked Tony from getting punched. 

“Kid, where’d you come from?” 

“Field trip, Uncle Tony,” Sarah said, kicking the big alien and sending him back. 

Tony attempted to explain what they were facing as they fought. Because they used lasers and webbing, Sarah let Peter and Tony handle it for a minute while she checked on her Uncle Bruce who she was very confused to see considering she thought he was still with Thor. 

“Um, what was that?” Sarah asked as a flash of red zoomed by Sarah and Bruce. 

“That’s the wizard, someone get on it.” 

“Got it,” Peter said, leaving Sarah to take his place against the big alien. 

She managed to knock the metal claw-like weapon out of his hand before hearing Peter requesting help and saying his location. Sarah ran as fast as she could to see Peter stuck between using one of his webs to hold onto a street lamp and the other web wrapped around a knocked-out Doctor Strange, trying to stop the man from getting taken into the spaceship. Peter looked down as he felt the lamp post tilt backwards and saw Sarah pulling it and twisting the metal downwards to bring them closer to the ground. It was working for a few moments but then suddenly she felt herself not on the ground. 

“Uh, Mr. Stark. We’re being beamed up,” Peter said into the comm. 

“Hang on, kid.” Sarah heard Tony say with a grunt. 

Peter watched Sarah going flying past him on the spaceship and shot out a web to catch her. She felt herself being violently yanked by the midsection until she was in Peter’s arms. 

“I got you.” 

They both looked down, the ship was way too high for them to even consider jumping and hoping to live. They had faith in Tony but didn’t want to test how long it would take him to save them so the two of them started looking for any way onto the spaceship. 

“Okay, you both let go.” They heard Tony’s voice. 

It was getting harder to breathe as the air got thinner. The two let go less by free will and more because they were passing out. Peter felt himself caught by the suit Tony designed but Sarah had passed out completely and her trajectory suddenly dropped causing her to miss the suit. 

“Oh, shit.” Peter shot out a web to catch her and threw Sarah into the open port of the ship. “Wait, no, wrong way.” 

Peter shot another web to pull himself towards the spaceship as the port of the ship started to close back. He heard the door slam as he went to pick Sarah up and realized they were effectively trapped. Sarah came to her senses and looked at where Peter was staring at a closed door. 

“We should’ve stayed on the bus,” she groaned and fell back before steadying herself enough to get up, with a little bit of help. 

“When we get back I’m taking a week off, saying I got the flu,” Peter joked as they started walking more towards the interior. 

“I second that. Let’s go kick some alien ass so we can go home.”

The two found the cape and followed it. The cape tapped Tony on the shoulder and he turned, jumping slightly. 

“Wow, you are a seriously loyal piece of outerwear.”

Peter dropped Sarah and then dropped down from the ceiling himself. “Speaking of loyalty… we know what you’re gonna say.”

Tony looked over both mad and confused. “You two shouldn’t be here… where’s the new suit GI?”

“That’s why we’re still here.” 

“God damn it,” Tony muttered. “Okay, come on you two. We’ve got a situation.” 

Tony led the teens to where they could see Doctor Strange being tortured by the alien that Tony dubbed Squidward. Sarah and Peter looked at each other and nodded. Tony ran a hand over his face that their plan to save Strange was relying on their choices in movies and recreating what they did. 

Sarah pressed the button on her glove letting it pull a sharp-point blade in her palm. Carefully and quietly, she drew a crude circle on the metal paneling of the spaceship and pressed the center to see it started to bend inwards around her fist. Tony jumped down as Sarah ran to a safe space causing the alien to look at him. 

“I thought I told you. Your weapons are inconsequential.”

“Yeah, but the kids have seen more movies.”

“What?”

Tony blasted the paneling Sarah had cut a circle into and the alien was sucked out of the ship. Peter shot a web to catch Strange before he got sucked out of the side of the ship. Sarah ran at Peter to pull him and Strange far back while Tony used the nanotech to seal up the side of the ship. 

“We’ve got to turn the ship around,” Strange said. 

“Oh, now he wants to run,” Tony muttered. 

“I want to protect the stone.”

“And I want you to thank me.” 

“For what? Nearly blasting me into space?”

“Um who just saved your magical ass? Me.”

“How do you fit your head into that helmet?”

“Really?” Sarah asked. 

“GI, the adults are talking. Thanks to you, Strange, we’re now stuck in a flying donut miles away from Earth with no backup.” 

“Okay, hi. I remember only two teenage stowaways not four. Sarah Wilson-Rogers.” 

Sarah stepped up to shake Strange’s hand. He shook hers and then Peter’s and finally introduced himself. Peter nodded slowly. 

“Dr. Strange, ohh, we’re using our fake names. Okay, then Spider-man.”

“Peter, I think that’s his actual name.”

Strange looked at the two and then at Tony. “I’m sorry. What is the relationship here, are they your wards?”

“No. Niece and… little prodigy? Sure we’ll go with that.”

Strange rolled his eyes. “Anyway. This ship is self-correcting its course. It’s on autopilot, do you know how to correct that… Stark?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you fly us home?”

“Yeah, I heard you. I’m just thinking I’m not so sure we should.”

“We’re not bringing the stone to Thanos, do you not understand?”

“No, I don’t think you understand. Thanos has been in my head for years since he sent an army to New York and now he’s back. I’ve seen what he can do and I don’t know if it’s better to fight on his turf or ours. But we’ve seen the destruction and I’m not doing that to Earth again… what if we don’t recover this time?” 

“Alright, Stark. We’ll go to him. But know that if it comes down to saving you, the children, or the Time Stone. I will not hesitate to let any of you die. I can’t because the universe depends on it.”

“We’re straight.”

Sarah walked over, not liking what she just heard. She looked at the medallion around his neck that held the Time Stone. It felt like it was calling to her somehow. She tapped at the medallion as she spoke to prove a point. 

“I want you to know, if I die I’m coming back specifically to haunt you.” 

Strange wasn’t paying attention to her but to the medallion that had opened and dropped the Time Stone into her hand. Sarah noticed the weight suddenly in her hand and looked to see the stone. She was confused since she didn’t mean to open his medallion so she put the stone back in Strange’s hand. 

“You shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“How the hell did you do that?! That’s not possible! Who are yo—”

Tony stepped in, physically putting a barrier in between Sarah and Strange and pushing him back. Strange watched as Sarah took out her hearing aids and started to shake her head while Peter came up and rubbed her shoulders, trying to get the girl to breathe. Tony had a look of murder on his face. 

He had yelled at Sarah once and saw how quickly she shut down. It was something the team used to forget when she first came back to the compound because she had been doing so well with getting over the effects of HYDRA. But people yelling at Sarah with any emotion that didn’t seem to be happiness put her back in her cell and caused her to shut down. 

“Okay, what we don’t do is yell at her. You’ve got a problem, you tell her but your voice so much as goes above sixty decibels and I’ll kill you, universe and Time Stone be damned.” 

Strange looked over at the girl. He realized she seemed very affected as Peter handed Sarah the hearing aids back and pulled her into a tight hug as if he was a weighted blanket. 

“I apologize. I was just in shock, the stone is only supposed to react to my spell or one of the other Infinity… stones, may I?” 

Strange pointed at the diamond blade that Sarah had yet to punch off from her palm. She hesitated but gave him her hand. Strange started muttering to himself until Tony finally asked him to share with the class. 

“I know the Ancient One said but none of us truly believed… HYDRA actually did it.”

“Did what?” Tony peeked over his shoulder.

“The Tesseract, the Space Stone. They managed to weaponize it successfully just once we were told it was a human but after Red Skull it seemed highly unlikely that the experiment turned out normal looking. But you, this isn’t really a diamond casing. It’s spatial pressure.”

“I’m sorry what?” Sarah was more confused than ever. 

“Spatial pressure, one of the stone’s powers. It takes the very fabric of space and compresses it with so much pressure in a way that’s like telekinesis. But instead of stopping a knife mid air by hardening the space around it, you’ve hardened the air around your own skin. This is fragments of Space Stone, not diamond.”

“So, I’m part Tesseract?”

“In a sense. It’s remarkable you still look like you, the stone must’ve liked you a lot.”

“Liked me?”

“It’s sentient.”

“It’s a rock.”

“A rock that’s sentient. How do you think the Mind Stone powers Vision? They generate their own energy with some form of intelligence. Most people don’t survive the pure energy of the stones against human skin because the stones make sure you can’t as a defense mechanism of sorts.”

“I was injected when I was three. I think even a rock would tell I wasn’t a threat.” 

Strange hummed in agreement. He looked in between Sarah and Tony. 

“This makes her a potential problem. It’s not a lot of the Tesseract but it’s enough that Thanos could use her… are you serious about stopping him on his turf.”

“Most serious I’ve been in my life,” Tony responded as he crossed his arms. 

“Good because you put two stones together and it becomes like a beacon signal. Next time she touches the Time Stone, Thanos will probably know exactly where we are.” 

“Alright, GI, maybe you should sit over there.”

Tony pointed to the seat nearby that faced the windshield of the ship. Sarah agreed and moved as far away from the other stone as she could, Peter coming to sit with her. Tony and Strange started to figure out where to go and how to fly the ship. Sarah punched off the “diamond” blade and leaned her head on Peter’s shoulder as they both stared out at space. 

* * *

When they came back home from almost getting their ass beat, Steve started asking Rhodey if Sarah was there. To his surprise, Bruce stepped out from the lab and explained everything. The rest of the team sighed. Steve was hoping the Avengers could keep problems strictly on the Earth realm after having to deal with the Battle of New York all those years ago. And more importantly, they didn’t have Tony or Thor… or Sarah and Peter. The only relief coming from the fact that Bruce said the two baby Avengers were with Tony and a wizard? 

“So what advantage do we have? Or are we about to dive head first into a losing battle? Cause it feels like a losing battle,” Sam said.

“We have to get rid of the stone,” Vision said. “That’s how we stop Thanos from getting it.”

“Yeah, we get rid of the stone and you with it. We’re not having this conversation,” Wanda cut in. “That’s too high a price.”

“Only you have the power to pay it,” Vision said as he gently grabbed Wanda’s face. 

Wanda pulled away from him. Steve shook his head. They weren’t trading Vision’s life— that’s not how they did things. There had to be another way. 

“We can’t do that, Vis.”

“Captain, you would’ve done the same in World War 2. Did you not do the same?”

“And that’s not a light decision to make.” 

“What if we extract the stone?” Bruce questioned. He paced as he thought out loud. “Vision is made of the stone, JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me. Kill the stone and there should still be some stuff left.” 

“Can you do that, Bruce?” Steve asked. 

“Not me… not here.”

“Then we need to find somewhere fast,” Rhodey said. 

“I think I know where. FRIDAY, please get T’Challa on the phone.”

* * *

Sarah stood up abruptly as the ship started to approach the planet she assumed was Titan. Tony and Peter each grabbed one of the steering wheels to slowly park the ship as best as they could. 

“Um, you guys might want to turn,” Strange suggested. 

Tony and Peter turned a little too late and the ship crashed against a building, part of it breaking off, before landing on the ground. It wasn’t the smoothest landing but they all got out unscathed so it was considered a mild win. Peter was hanging from the ceiling as he slowly lowered on a long string of web, facing Strange and Tony who had shook themselves off of debris from landing. 

“I just want to say that if aliens wind up implanting something in my chest and I eat one of you, I’m sorry.”

“No more pop culture references out of you for the rest of the trip.” Tony pointed at Peter. “I don’t want to hear a single one.”

Sarah felt the vibrations of something rolling along the metal. “He’s trying to say something’s coming.” 

As she said it, a small ball rolled in front of Tony and Strange before exploding. The blast was small yet knocked everyone back but Sarah. A group came in suddenly, guns pointed. 

“Thanos!” One of the big guys yelled before Strange’s cape flew over his face and knocked him back. 

The other man started chasing after Tony while the weird woman with antennas was walking up to Peter. Despite the glowing antennas, Sarah thought she wasn’t as much as a threat as the man with literal blasters and went to help Tony instead— Peter could handle himself. Sarah knocked one of the blasters out of his hand and he went to punch her. She smirked as he brought his hand back in pain. He shot at her with the other blaster and looked confused when nothing happened. Sarah grabbed him and pinned him to the ground, pointing his own blaster back at him which caused the others to stop. 

“Who are you and what do you want?”

“Where’s Gamora?” The man asked. 

“Who the hell is Gamora?” 

The man took Sarah's moment of confusion when she looked up at Tony or Strange for answers as a chance to knock her off him, grabbing the blaster and moving for Peter instead who had been caught in the electric coils thrown from the antenna woman. Sarah held her hands out as if he was a feral animal in attempts to de-escalate the situation.

“Tell me where Gamora is or I’ll kill this little French Fry.” 

“Alright,” Tony said. 

“Uncle Tony!”

His glove lit up brighter than Sarah had ever seen it. “You blast him, I blast your guy and we call it even.” 

“I’ll kill all of you and beat the answer out of Thanos myself.”

“Wait, Thanos?” Strange asked. “I’m going to ask one time. What master do you serve?”

“What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say Jesus?”

“He’s from Earth,” Tony sighed, putting the blaster away.

“I’m not from Earth, I’m from Missouri.”

Sarah walked up to him, footsteps purposely loud so he could hear her and see she wasn't there to attack. 

“Hey, idiot sandwich. Missouri’s on Earth, and give me back my boyfriend.” Sarah aggressively pulled Peter from the guy’s arms. 

“You guys aren’t with Thanos?”

“We’re here to kill Thanos.”

“Wait, who are you?”

Peter’s mask went back so his face could be seen. “We’re the Avengers.” 

“You’re the ones Thor told us about,” the woman said. 

Thor’s name was all that was needed to pacify the tension as the three new guys introduced themselves. Mantis, Quil, and Drax. Quil walked next to Sarah as they left the ship. 

“Sorry about the whole threatening to kill the French Fry thing.” 

Sarah looked at him with the straightest face possible and punched him in the arm— purposely hardening the area around her knuckles. He held the spot trying not to cry. Peter, who was holding Sarah's hand, kissed the corner of her mouth. 

“It’s kind of hot when you’re mad.”

“Yeah, you think so?” she asked in a high-pitched tone that was such a stark contrast to the attitude before. 

Tony turned around, walking backwards as he kept up with Strange, and snapped his fingers. 

“Hey, you two. We’ve got a whole saving the world mission we’re busy with. You wanna save your little PG-13 love fest for after we all live.” 

Sarah and Peter separated abruptly. “Right.”

“Sorry, Mr. Stark.”


	30. Chapter 30

The plan was to grab the gauntlet from Thanos and dip. Tony didn’t want to prolong a fight with him and everyone agreed. A long fight was a better chance to lose. It took longer than they thought to get Drax, Mantis, and Quil on the same page as the rest of the team. Mainly because, even though he wouldn’t admit it, Tony and Quil had the exact same personalities. Two sides of the same coin— only Quil also had the edge of moronic added to him. 

Sarah watched Mantis look over while the two man-children were arguing and followed her line of sight to see Strange meditating in the air, head twitching aggressively. There was a high pitched ringing in Sarah's ears that made her wince. Strange hit the ground with a hard thud and Tony ran over to help him up. 

“What was that?”

“I went forward in time to view alternate futures to see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.”

“How many did you see?”

“Over millions.”

“And how many did we win?”

“Sarah!” Strange called the girl over. 

She leaned down in front of him and the medallion opened. Strange nodded for her to touch the Time Stone. His head started to do the violent twitch again before Sarah pulled back as she felt a jolt of electricity between her and the Time Stone. The ringing was there again and she realized it must have come from the two stones interacting near each other— it was the same reason Sarah felt vibrations so strong, the space stone bent soundwaves towards her and unfortunately the frequency of the two stones near each other was going straight to her ear. Strange looked at Sarah before turning his attention back to Tony. 

“Strange, how many did we win?”

“Four and two of them seem… he’s coming.”

Everyone got into position but Strange turned to Sarah. “He’ll know what you are as the other stones get close.”

“Can we use it to win?”

Strange sighed with a look that only he knew what he meant. “You don’t know how to use it.”

“But we have to try.”

“Are you always this tenacious?”

“Have you met my father?”

That made him laugh. “We have to try.”

Sarah nodded and fell back closer to Tony hearing Strange mutter he hoped option one would win. She had never been near any of the raw stones before the Time Stone but Sarah knew what Strange meant on Thanos figuring out what she was. She felt a charge and a pull and could only assume it meant Thanos must be on Titan and getting closer to them. 

Sarah realized he already knew she would be there and was confident she was making the right choice when she suddenly changed her position from being by Tony and stood next to Strange who smiled and fell back— Thanos might perceive the calling of Sarah and the Time Stone as just the girl. 

* * *

“Four days? Not any quicker?” Steve asked Shuri. 

“There’s too many paths. If I mess up on one, it will cause critical failure in Vision.” 

“Alright. Well it’s better than no—”

Shuri, Okoye, and T’Challa’s kimoyo beads rang alarmingly loud. Okoye pulled up a map of Wakanda on her beads and moved it to the large screen.

“Something’s entered the atmosphere.”

“Cap,” Sam’s voice came through everyone’s comm. “We’ve got a problem here.”

The barrier shook as something hit it. Everyone looked at Shuri. There wasn’t going to be much time for the young scientist, they had to act and fast.

“There are two heat signatures at the barrier,” Rhodey’s voice came in as he headed outside to scope the area with Sam. 

“What the hell?” Bucky whispered when they all raced out. Alien dog creatures were shoving themselves at the barrier in attempts to get through. 

“Captain, if these things close in around us, they’re going to get to Vision.” 

“I’m not done!” Shuri yelled. 

“Then we better keep them in front of us,” Steve said. 

“Open the barrier,” T’Challa calmly commanded.

* * *

As he approached, Sarah saw how large the purple man was. The planet was aptly named because he wasn’t just a giant, he was a Titan. The smile on his face didn’t fade but turned into one of sadness as he noticed her sitting cross-legged amongst the rubble and dirt. He saw Sarah and saw a young Gamora. She pulled back the hood of her suit and let him see her completely. 

“Aren’t you an interesting little thing?”

“You definitely look like a Thanos.” 

He laughed. “I take it the Maw is dead.” 

Sarah nodded assuming he was talking about the alien whose ship they had technically hijacked. He knew how deadly a child could be, he had raised his own that way, but something about Sarah threw him off and Thanos let his guard down a little bit— he blamed it on parental tendencies. Thanos knelt in the dirt and slowly sat down across from her. 

“This day extracts a heavy toll, he didn’t exactly accomplish his mission but you seem just as interesting… one hundred percent human, aren’t you? So which stone is it?”

“The Space one.” Sarah glittered her skin so he could see the brief glimpses of where it hardened. 

“Incredible.” Thanos looked around. “This was my home.”

The Reality Stone glowed as the planet around them started to change. Sarah winced and grabbed the hearing aid, causing the Titan to look over. She couldn’t take out the hearing aid so Sarah turned it down a bit in hopes it wouldn’t be as uncomfortable. She looked up to see the planet now look lush. Thanos started again.

“It was beautiful, I know. But it was like most planets, too many mouths and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution.”

“But it was genocide.” 

“Yes, little one. But not malicious. It was random, dispassionate. Rich and poor alike. Yet, they called me a madman and what I predicted came to pass.”

“So, you were a prophet?”

“A survivor.”

“Who now wants to murder trillions? How does that not make you a madman? You’ve destroyed planets before.”

“With all six stones, I could just snap my fingers. They would simply stop existing. No pain, no blood and not having to compete for limited resources. I call that mercy.”

“And then what?” Sarah quickly asked. 

She had felt a vibration from someone on the team that must have been switching locations. Sarah couldn’t look anywhere but at Thanos before he got suspicious, especially because she wasn't sure if the Space Stone on his gauntlet allowed him to feel vibrations like it did for her. 

“I’d finally rest… watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills but I think you know all about that.” 

“I’m not a murderer.”

“Oh, little one, we both know that’s not true.” 

Sarah hung her head in shame, visions of HYDRA coming back to her. Thanos started again in a softer voice. 

“But you’re still here. And so am I, you might not understand but maybe you’ll come to see. You seem to be a survivor like me, if you’re still here, you’ll come to see my reasoning. I’ll show you the way.”

“You mind showing my friends as well?”

“Your friends?” Thanos looked up to see Tony pushing a piece of spaceship down on him. 

As soon as the building crashed on him, the rest of the team sprang up from their positions to get ready for attack. Thanos used the Power Stone to tear the building to shreds and they all watched as he stood up, virtually unaffected. The building shards all of a sudden turned into bats and flew at Tony, knocking him back. 

Peter swung by and shot a web over Thanos’ eye causing him to be distracted long enough for Drax to come in and try to stab him. Strange, Drax, and Tony worked in tandem to distract Thanos. Sarah and Quil ran by, Quil shooting the blasters. Sarah tried to grab the Space Stone, feeling it call out to her. It almost worked since Strange had Thanos pinned with his magic but the giant broke through and punched her in the face. 

“Don’t let him close his fist,” Strange said as his cape flew off to wrap around Thanos’ hand that held the gauntlet. 

Strange used his portals to have Peter and Mantis teleport back and forth around Thanos. The purple giant caught Peter by the throat and threw him at Strange which made Mantis drop as well. Tony launched a missile and Sarah came running in. Thanos used the stones to absorb the missile and throw the blast back at Tony. Sarah grabbed onto the gauntlet, keeping Thanos’ fingers wide open with a struggle. A ship crashed into both of them causing Sarah to roll far from him. She looked up to see Thanos now fighting with a blue cyborg yelling he should’ve killed her when he had the chance and asking for Gamora. 

Sarah looked in the palm of her hand to see the Space Stone. Strange smiled to himself, feeling hopeful the first outcome might happen. He used his magic to grab Thanos by the gauntlet as he started running towards Sarah. Drax slid in and knocked out his legs as Quil threw something that electrocuted the giant and Peter threw webs to hold Thanos down as well. Strange managed to open a portal above Thanos and Mantis dropped on top of him and pulled his head back. 

“Is he under?” Tony asked as he struggled with the gauntlet. “Don’t let up.”

“Be quick. He’s very strong,” Mantis said through gritted teeth. 

“Alright, GI. Figure out your little space thing and get the hell out.” 

The Stone felt hot in her hands. Sarah shook her head not knowing what to do. Tony looked up. 

“Sarah! We don’t have time kid, you’ve got to do something!”

“I don’t know how!” 

“Sarah?” 

She turned around to see Steve and realized she was in Wakanda, Vision standing a few feet away from her and Steve. Steve looked to see the Space Stone in her hands and when he looked back up he pushed Sarah out the way and hit the alien that was about to grab her. She ducked from another and punched it into a tree that could move? It hit the alien, killing it before it could jump back up at her, and looked up at Sarah. 

“I am Groot!” The tree said chirpily. 

“Sarah. Uh, thanks,” she said as she pointed to the dead alien. 

“I am Groot.” Groot nodded with a serious face and walked off. 

Sarah turned to Vision after the strange encounter with the tree. Vision grabbed her, stone glowing on his forehead which caused her to wince as the ringing started. Vision never used the full capacity of the Mind Stone before. 

“We can destroy it,” Vision looked at the stone in her hand. 

“You have to hurry.” 

Vision started to blast the stone but it was all bouncing off.

“You need to stop, Sarah.” 

“Stop what?”

“The stone, it thinks I’m trying to destroy you.” 

“I’m not doing any— I’ll put it down.” 

The stone wouldn’t leave Sarah's hand. She didn’t know how to work it. It had taken her months to learn vibration detection and literal years to figure out she could create hard layers of casing over her skin— the portal was accident and it was clear Sarah's experience with the stone wasn’t advanced. The same way Thanos had stopped knives in mid-air, Sarah had the stone propelled in mid-air between her hands but it wouldn’t get on the ground. 

“I can’t hit it unless—”

“You’ve got to try Vision, we don’t have much time. The others are on Titan trying—”

Sarah found herself back on the planet where Thanos had just taken the Time Stone from Strange with the rest of the team trying to recover. Strange looked at the portal she just came out of and hung his head. The others looked at Sarah as she tried to portal back. Thanos started running towards her before she held out her hands, scared, and he suddenly stopped mid-run. The stone was held between Sarah's fingers as the blades came out of her palms glowing a bright blue like the Tesseract that they had never done before. 

“Good work, Sarah.” Strange held out his hand. “Give me the stone.” 

Before the girl could move, her reality changed and she couldn’t see everyone. The high-pitched whine from right before made her realize it was Thanos using the Reality Stone. The rest of the team, who was still looking at Titan, watched Sarah's head whip around wildly trying to get out of the vision Thanos had set before her. 

The whining in her ear made Sarah lose focus despite everyone on the team calling her name to try and get her to come towards them. She turned off the hearing aids to put herself in complete silence. The team watched as the right foot of her suit grew the same blue casing as the blades from the palm of her hand. Sarah stepped on the ground hard, feeling the vibrations and waves bounce off the team and back towards her. The stone seemed to amplify powers she already knew how to control and it was like she could create a picture of where everyone might be. Sarah was the most sure of Tony’s location, the metal of his Iron Man suit created a very distinct echo. She started walking with tentative steps and Thanos panicked. As Tony took a step towards her, Thanos used the Reality Stone to change Tony’s suit and his own body. The next step Tony took was with a heaviness that rang like Thanos’ footsteps causing Sarah to pull back. 

“That’s it GI,” Thanos said in a voice eerily like Tony’s. 

Sarah couldn’t hear him but the team could as Thanos, with help of the Power Stone, managed to break out of Sarah holding him mid-trance. He took a single step and her head whipped over as she felt the echo and vibration distinct to the Iron Man suit. 

“NO!” Everyone yelled loudly as Sarah threw the stone towards Thanos. 

Suddenly, the girl's vision was back and she realized she had made a grave mistake. Sarah ran at Thanos hitting him with the blade of her hands. Nothing happened as Sarah hit the gauntlet at the same time Thanos started pulling Titan’s moon at her and Tony. Tony flew up as it started to come down and caught it before it could crush everyone. Peter started using the webs to pull people out of the way until all the debris had settled. Catching her breath on the ground, Sarah turned on the hearing aids again. She looked around to see the giant nowhere in sight and ran over to Tony who had been stabbed by Thanos. 

“Where’d he go?” Tony asked as Sarah kneeled by him. 

“Wakanda. Vision,” she responded. “Crap, Uncle Tony.”

Sarah watched in panic as a trickle of blood came from his mouth. Peter came running up and both teenagers started fawning over Tony, trying to figure out what to do. 

“Did we just lose?” Quil asked. 

“We’re in the endgame now,” Strange said with a labored sigh as he sat back against scrap metal. 

The Avengers on Earth heard a whirring and watched in horror as the time stone turned Vision back to right before death. Thanos backhanded Wanda as she tried to reach the android. Pietro slowed down seeing his sister get hit and that caused him to get knocked out by Thanos as well. Lightning came out of nowhere and Thor launched his axe into Thanos’ chest. He pushed it further in. 

“You should’ve gone for the head,” Thanos whispered. 

He snapped. The blast blew everyone back. Steve scrambled to his feet and looked at the now charred gauntlet on the giant’s hand.

“What did you do?” Thor yelled. “What did you do?”

They watched a portal open around Thanos before they could do anything to stop him. Thor’s axe fell to the ground where Thanos was previously kneeling.

“Where’d he go?” Steve asked.

“Steve, Sam?”

The two men turned to the concerned voice of Bucky. And then they saw it. His arm was turning to dust and then his whole body did and the gun he was holding dropped to the ground. The two men were stunned, everyone was. The looks of shock didn’t cease as they noticed others around them start to turn to dust.

“Babe,” Sam said with a voice of discomfort. 

“No!” Steve yelled as he watched Sam start to turn into dust, finally processing what was happening. 

He grabbed onto whatever he could but it wasn’t keeping Sam on Earth. Soon the man faded. Steve dropped to his knees in the dirt next in between the spots where both Sam and Bucky had been previously standing. Rhodey kneeled down next to him to try and help him stand while pushing aside his own shock at watching someone he had come to consider a friend suddenly be dusted. 

* * *

The nanotech created a bandage of sorts around Tony. Sarah punched out the blades on her hands, them still glowing bright blue as they hit the ground, so she could help hold Tony down while Peter quickly pulled out the blade. The nanotech wrapped more around the spot and Tony groaned as he sat up a little bit. 

“Thanks, kids.” 

“Are you okay?” Peter asked. 

“I’ll be fine, let’s just get home and before the fight ends.” 

“Something’s happening,” Mantis said in a worried tone that caused them all to look over at her tucked under Quil’s arm. Suddenly she turned to dust and drifted away. 

“What the hell?” Quil asked. “What was that? What was that?”

They watched in fear as Drax started to turn to dust. Quil faded as he ran towards Drax. Sarah looked around to see Strange fade as well before throwing up. Both Tony and Peter tried to comfort her until Peter made a whine of discomfort. 

“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good,” Peter said. 

“Hey, kid. No, no, wait.”

“I don’t want to go. Please, I don’t want to go.”

Tony tried to grab onto Peter but the boy faded into dust as well. Tony looked at the air where Peter had just been. Sarah collapsed over Tony’s lap and he broke from his trance to look down at her. 

“Where’s Peter?” she asked feebly. 

“Hey, GI, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

“Uncle Tony?”

“Yeah, GI?”

“I’m sorry I messed up.”

“No, kid. It wasn’t your fault, he outsmarted us all.” 

“If I knew earlier—”

“It might not have changed a thing. It was a four in fourteen million chance.”

Sarah's skin was glittering in a sporadic and rapid fashion. 

“Uncle Tony?” her voice came out quieter than before but with something Tony thought sounded like resolve. 

“Yes, GI?”

“Thank you for being one of the first people to help me. You and Uncle Clint, Aunty Nat. I’m gonna miss you.”

“Sarah, don’t talk like that.”

“No, I’m gonna miss you. Tell Uncle Jamie I forgive him, I know he still thinks about killing my mom. Tell him not to feel bad anymore.”

“Sarah, stop.” Tony watched the glittering become a solid blue casing.

“And Dad. I’m glad he came into our life… Uncle Tony?”

“Mmm hmm?” Tony couldn’t will himself to speak. 

“Tell Dheaidí I love him.”

“No, no Sarah. You tell him that yourself.” 

Tony tried to prop her up a little bit. The blue casing faded as she shook her head. Sarah kept talking as if Tony hadn’t said anything.

“I don’t tell him enough and I should.” 

Her throat felt dry as Sarah swallowed. Tony looked to see her lower half was gone, fading as the glittering hardened and then disappeared into dust. 

“He’s my favorite person in the world. You’ll tell Dheaidí right? That I love him?”

“I’ll tell him, kid.”

Sarah nodded with as much conviction as she could muster with how weak she felt. Her eyes glossed over and Tony thought she was going to throw up again. Sarah wasn't looking at him but staring out as she watched the early parts of her life flood her memory ending with Sarah seeing six Avengers staring at a small, twelve year old her in the conference room of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. 

“Thank you. That’s good… I did good, right? I’m good? I’m not a bad person anymore?”

“Not at all, Sar—”

Tony got quiet as the last half of the girl's face dusted away. Nebula, the only other survivor, gently picked up the two blue blades that had broken off from Sarah's hands and sat down next to Tony in the spot they were in. 

* * *

“Guys!” Steve heard Nat yell back into the common room. 

Everyone raced downstairs. A woman was carrying a spaceship gently to the ground. The door opened and a very sickly looking Tony was being escorted by a blue cyborg lady. Steve ran up to Tony to help him down the steps of the ship.

“Couldn’t stop him,” Tony muttered.

“Neither could we,” Steve said as he held onto Tony’s arm.

It felt too quiet to Steve. He had only heard the steps of Tony and Nebula.

“Tony, where’s Sarah? Stark… Stark, where’s my kid?” Steve asked with desperation, constantly looking behind Tony and Nebula as if she would appear from the ship.

Tony looked like he was out of it, not staring at anything in particular. He dropped two heavy and slightly blue glowing blades into Steve’s hand. 

“Tony,” Steve said, voice cracking. “Where’s my daughter?”

“I- I lost the kid. Both of them.” 

Pepper swooped in behind Steve to help Tony, knowing that the other man was no longer with them. Steve shook his head and walked back into the compound without checking that anyone else was following. He clutched the blue stones that Tony had dropped in his hands as tight as possible until he had to set them on the table as they almost burned him. He was alone again. Truly alone again and that wasn’t something Steve had to deal with in a while. 

He almost didn’t hear when the others came in with Tony now in a wheelchair hooked up to an IV. Rhodey pulled up files onto the holographic screen of the conference room— the little bit of files they had, everyone was still scrambling to figure out what exactly happened. 

“It’s been 23 days since Thanos’ snap. World governments are in pieces.”

“He did exactly as he said he was going to do,” Nat started. “Thanos wiped out exactly half of the population.” 

“Where is he now?” Tony asked from his chair. 

Steve sighed. “We don’t know.”

“We don’t know?”

“He opened a portal and walked through. We’ve been hunting Thanos for three weeks. Deep space scans, satellites, we got nothing. Tony you fought him—”

“There was no fight. He dropped a moon on my face,” Tony cut Steve off. “You can’t fight him because he’s unbeatable.” 

“Did he give you any clues, coordinates, anything?” 

“Hmm let me think, oh wait, nothing Steve.”

“Tony now’s not—” Pepper started.

“Don’t tell me what the time is! I watched them all turn to dust—”

“We did too!” Steve couldn’t contain himself anymore with the outburst. 

The others looked at him as he stared at the blue stones. Steve’s last words came out in a whisper causing the rest of the team to finally realize the sole anguish the man had been put through— they normally never did when it came to their captain. 

“I didn’t even get to see her go.” 

Tony’s voice came out a lot softer when he finally spoke. 

“I’m sorry but we lost, Cap. We lost. I’ve got nothing for you. No clues, no strategies, no options… I’ll be upstairs, I can’t deal with this right now.” 

Tony aggressively stood up and ripped the IV out of his arm only to immediately hit the floor. Pepper and Rhodey laid him down in a bed. Bruce had given him a sedative and he seemed calmer. 

“You guys take care of him. I’ll bring him an elixir when I come back,” Carol said as she started to move toward the door. 

“Where are you going?” Nat asked. 

“To kill Thanos.”

“Hey, we’re usually a team here. I know it’s different for you but we’ve got to work together. We get that it’s more your territory but it’s our fight too.”

“Do you even know where he is?” Rhodey asked. 

“I know people who might.” 

“Don’t bother,” Nebula said. “I know where my father is.”

“Understand this might not work. We’re going in shorthanded. There’s no guarantee this ends any differently than before,” Bruce said. 

“Because before you didn’t have me,” Carol said. 

Rhodey stopped her. 

“Hey, new girl. In case you haven’t noticed, everyone in this ship is ‘bout that superhero life. And if you don’t mind me asking, where the hell have you been this entire time?”

Carol shrugged. “There are a lot of other planets in the universe, not just Earth.”

“Let’s just go in and get the stones,” Steve said as he set the shield down and got in the chair behind Thor. 

“Cap,” Rhodey started. “You wanna sit this out? We’d get i—”

“Let’s finish the mission,” Steve said with steely resolve. 

Pietro was set down first as he ran around the whole planet, coming back to report that only Thanos was there. Carol blasted beams at the hut that Thanos was in. She held him in a chokehold while Bruce, in the Iron Hulk suit, and Rhodey held him down. It took everyone to fight and pull off the gauntlet. Bruce finally pulled off the gauntlet.They watched it clank to the floor stoneless. 

“Where are they?” Steve asked, holding the edge of his shield to Thanos’ throat, vengeance written hard on his face.

“The universe required correction. And once fixed, the stones became nothing more than a temptation.”

Bruce let go of Thanos and punched him across the room. “You murdered trillions!”

“You should be grateful,” Thanos said. 

“Where are the stones?” 

“Gone. Reduced to atoms.”

“You’re lying. You used them two days ago.”

“I used the stones to destroy the stones, nearly killing me. But it had to be done. I am inevitable.”

Thor screamed as he sliced off Thanos’ head before any of the others could stop him. 

“What did you do?” Rocket asked as they looked at Thano’s detached head. 

“I went for the head,” Thor said without absolutely no feeling. He walked out of the hut. 

“So what now?” 

They all instinctively turned to Steve who had been staring at the ground. He looked up to see their faces and sighed, setting aside his own feelings. 

“Now?” Steve said. “Now we have to move on.”

The place was deadly quiet. They walked to the spaceship in silence where Thor was already strapped into his seat sulking. No one spoke the whole ride through. Nat was keeping a special eye on Steve who had tears streaming down his face. He was wringing his hands so much that she was sure they might come off or that he would accidentally break his wedding ring.

“Shit!” Steve yelled as he punched the air and his foot hit the floor with a fierceness. 

Everyone on the ship jumped at the outburst. Steve ran his hands through his hair and then settled his elbows on his knees, fists resting near his mouth. 

“I failed her,” he said quietly. 

Nat reached over to rub his shoulder for comfort. “Steve you didn’t fail her, you tried as hard as you co—”

“No! No, Natasha. I fucking failed her. I wasn’t there for her and her mother, she got taken by Rumlow, she died on a different planet and I wasn’t there. Fucking failed Sarah, made her life various stages of hell since she was born just by being her dad… she’s gone. Buck, Sam… Babydoll’s gone.” 

Everyone knew there was nothing they could say to comfort Steve. Nothing he would hear that would make him feel remotely better. The ship landed and they walked into the compound in silence where Tony, Bruce, and Pepper were waiting with anxious faces. Steve dropped the shield on the coffee table in the living room and walked off to go upstairs to his apartment without saying a word to anyone.


	31. Chapter 31

The paint on the star had chipped away completely over the years. He had become a nomad, feeling like he didn’t have much to live for. Not when he lost his second chance, a chance he shouldn’t have even gotten and Steve was sure there wouldn’t be a third. If you asked the old Avengers where Steve Wilson-Rogers— he couldn’t bring himself to drop the Wilson in his name— was, they wouldn’t know. They stopped knowing Steve’s location by the middle of the first year. His social media went dead, most of theirs did. They didn’t call him, he called them. Once every two or three months. A single voicemail sent to everyone to know he was alive and doing as well as he could. 

He didn’t really go by Steve either. On the off chance one of the Avengers managed to actually pick up Steve’s call before he got it to voicemail, they didn’t address him by anything other than Cap. He wasn’t Captain America anymore, he had left the shield with Tony. But he also wasn’t Steve— that was a name that belonged to his family. So he became Cap, staying in ratty motels around the world and helping people from the shadows but never staying for long and never being seen by many people. 

The only time anyone truly knew it was Cap was the tattoo artist in Berlin. The man was starstruck but didn’t say anything, the world— the half that still existed— had learned what he had gone through. So the artist worked on Steve in absolute silence: the outline of a large star on his left bicep and two more around it. There was also a secret, smaller tattoo. Another star in the same shade of pink as the star on Sarah's suit behind his right ear. When it was done, Steve paid the man and walked out to never be seen in that part of Berlin again. 

Natasha and Rhodey got the most contact with him. After finishing a job he would send them a text of where they could pick up the bad guys he had tied up for them. There was always a hope that they might see Steve when they went to retrieve the people but he never showed. It went like that until the third year when he broke. He couldn’t keep punching through his grief and eventually it all made him numb. So Steve went back to New York, back to his old home in Brooklyn. 

Nothing was there, everything still in the apartment at the compound. And nothing was really added the longer Steve stayed. He became a grief counselor. He wasn’t sure if it was because he hoped that helping other people process their grief would eventually help him or if it was because being a counselor was Sam’s old job and it felt like being close to him. He told everyone they had to move on, learn to process but it wasn’t easy for him so how could he expect others to do it. 

He finally found himself slowly getting through it by the fifth year. And Steve thought he might be able to stop running now. So he got on his motorcycle after his latest counseling session and started to drive. The compound still looked the same. That was nice, at least one thing was still the same. Steve entered just as Nat was throwing a dry sandwich back onto her plate. 

“I’d offer to make you dinner but that would be more depressing,” Steve joked, it didn’t come out as light as he used to.

Nat smiled a little just seeing his face. “You here for free laundry?”

“And to see a friend.”

“Clearly, your friend is fine.”

“You know, I saw a pod of whales coming over the bridge,” Steve said. 

“In the Hudson?”

“Fewer ships, cleaner water—”

“If you’re about to tell me to look on the bright side, I’ll throw this sandwich at you.” 

Steve laughed before taking a seat at the table. He apologized, the speech was a force of habit from being a counselor. Even he didn’t really believe it. Steve was surprised that Nat was still in the business of being an Avenger. But her will was a little more than his. Although based on the woman in front of him, Steve suspected she would leave soon as well. 

They engaged in small talk, Nat being very careful not to say anything that might have remotely related to Sarah. It was awkward and hard but something both of them appreciated. Just being with each other. Old friends, two of the original Avengers. A notification popped up on the hologram and Nat swiped it without really paying attention. 

“Hi! Hello? Is anyone home?” a voice called out over the intercom. “This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport!”

The two of them turned towards the hologram screen. They weren’t actually seeing Ant-man. They couldn’t be seeing Scott, it was impossible. He was someone who they had on the list of Avengers that got snapped. But here he was on the screen, standing on the front door. Natasha quickly pressed the button to let Scott in. He paced back and forth in attempts to collect his thoughts. 

“Have you two ever studied quantum physics?” Scott asked.

“Only enough to make conversation,” Nat said.

“That’ll do. Right, five years ago, before… Thanos, I was in a place called the quantum realm. It’s like its own microscopic universe. Hope she was my… she was supposed to pull me out but then Thanos and I got stuck there.”

“I’m sorry,” Nat said. “That must have been a long five years.”

“But that’s the thing. It wasn’t five years, for me it was five hours… Time works differently in the quantum realm, we don’t know how to navigate right now but what if we did? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that. What if there was a way we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point and time and exit at another? Like before Thanos.” 

Steve and Nat looked at each other. Steve didn’t want to start giving himself hope again. But Scott seemed so sure, like he knew what he was talking about. 

“You’re suggesting a time machine?” Steve asked. 

“Um, yeah. A time machine.” Scott scratched the back of his head. “Never mind. It’s crazy.”

“Scott, I get emails from a raccoon. Nothing’s crazy anymore,” Nat said. 

“So who do we talk to about this?”

The car slowly rolled to a stop in front of Tony’s fancy cabin. Tony, who was carrying his kid Morgan, watched it stop and Steve step out followed by Nat and Scott. Tony set Morgan down and told her to go inside as the others approached the porch of the house. He looked at the serious faces of the three adults in front of him. Tony came back out with four glasses and started pouring water as Scott talked. 

“Now we know what it sounds like. But after everything you’ve seen is anything really impossible?” 

“You guys are talking about messing with the Planck scale, triggering Deutsch Proposition. You do this… you’re not coming home.”

“But I did.”

“No, Scott. You accidentally survived. That’s different. Billion-to-one cosmic fluke. I’ve got a good thing going here. If there’s no logical way for me to safely execute said time heist, I’m not doing it.” 

Morgan came outside. “Mommy told me to come save you.”

“She did? Thank you sweetheart.” 

Tony noticed from the corner of his eye how Nat and Scott turned their faces to look at Steve who seemed to tense up after watching the whole interaction. The glass in his hand dropped and Steve looked down as if he was suddenly aware of where he was. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled as he bent down to pick up the glass and put it back on the tray. 

“Cap, I’m sorry but it—”

“It’s fine, Tony.” Steve looked around and his eyes briefly landed on Morgan. “I’ll be in the car when you guys are, uh, done.” 

Steve walked off before Nat could grab him. They all watched him get into the car. Tony walked inside with Morgan, leaving Nat and Scott to stay on the porch. 

“What are we going to do now? We need him, we can’t stop,” Scott said.

“We’ll need a bigger brain.”

Tony was on dishwashing duty for the night— he and Pepper liked to switch off chore duty. The water on the nozzle sprayed out. Tony scrambled to turn it off and grabbed a dry dish towel to dry down the area that had gotten sprayed including the shelves. As he dried the shelf he picked up the picture frame that had gotten sprayed. Tony swiped over it with the dish towel once before pausing. 

It was the picture of Sarah, him, and Peter playing chess in the lab. He and Pepper had put the picture up when they first moved in. There was also another picture of Sarah and Peter in the house: It was two days before fighting Thanos, Halloween. Sarah and Peter were going to a house party, both of them surprisingly excited for it. Naturally a cheesy couple’s costume was necessary and of course it was going to be Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. The two wore goofy smiles on their face because Tony had something silly right before he took the picture, wanting a more natural smile.

Morgan had asked when she first saw and was old enough to talk causing them to have to explain. Not that the little girl really understood and just thought the two teens were on a trip that’s been lasting for five years. Tony set down the picture back in its spot. He told himself he was going to bed but ended up in his home study instead asking FRIDAY to pull up some simulations. 

* * *

Testing time travel was something Steve never thought he’d be doing. As far as he was concerned, waking up years into the future was time travel enough. He stood next to Bruce as he started up the machine. Sarah used to love hanging out with Tony and Bruce in the lab, that was all Steve could think about. Sometimes he’d find his daughter up way too late on a school night with the two of them working on whatever they were working on. He’d mention the time only for Tony to interrupt saying they had just one more thing. Sarah would beg for five more minutes that would turn into an hour with Bruce promising he would get her upstairs as soon as possible. This would’ve been something Sarah wanted to watch, she would probably be helping Bruce if she was there. Steve watched as each test run brought back Scott but not normal adult Scott. He was old, and then a baby, and then a teenager, and then old again. 

“Bruce! Bring him back,” Nat practically yelled. 

“I’m trying.”

Twice more as a baby and finally adult Scott was in front of them. Visibly shaken at ageing so much in such a short amount of time. Steve rolled his eyes and walked outside while Bruce was celebrating what he considered “a minor victory”. It wasn’t working. Well it was, but not in the way they needed. Steve played with his wedding ring. 

“I’m sorry guys,” he said to himself. 

The alarm on his phone rang and Steve pulled it out to turn it off. His home screen was still the same picture of the four of them. Steve unlocked his phone to turn off the alert that read, Sarah’s Birthday. He shouldn’t do it because it only made grieving worse but every year Steve opened his photos to the video Sam took on her last birthday. This year was no different as he pressed play for the video to start: 

**The compound was littered in balloons and confetti as Sarah sat on the couch after school in the apartment. She was in pajamas and pretty tired but still had her birthday girl sash on and crown. Bucky and Clint passed behind the couch briefly to hand Sarah, Nat, and Steve large mugs before disappearing from the frame, although their sounds of laughter showed they were still in the room.**

**“You’re such a pushover, babe,” Sam’s voice came from behind the camera.**

**“I think Dheaidí looks perfect,” Sarah laughed, taking a sip of the drink.**

**Her only request for her birthday was that everyone had a self-care day with her. They agreed but only Pietro, Nat, and Steve did every single part of the routine which included hair steaming and acrylics.**

**“You know she just likes messing with you, punk?” Bucky’s voice was off screen.**

**“I have years to make up for Uncle Jamie, don’t ruin it.”**

**“Yeah, Barnes don’t ruin it,” Nat joked. “When are we ever gonna see Steve like this again?”**

**“My bad.”**

**Sam’s voice was loud since he was the one filming. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart… Steve say something to your child.”**

**“You just want to see the nails.” He rolled his eyes.**

**“Oh I’m saving this memory, we’re not letting this disappear on us.”**

**Steve sighed and set his drink down and so did Sarah.**

**_Happy Birthday, Sarah. I hope this day was everything for you. I love you, doll._ Steve signed as the nails clicked. **

**Sarah gave him the biggest smile Steve had seen to date. She looked past Steve when Clint called her name.**

**“Favorite present you’ve gotten?”**

**“Being back this year. Dheaidí,” she answered with no hesitation.**

**“Really?”**

**“No. The bracelet you and Aunty Laura got me,” she said in the most deadpan fashion she could muster.**

**Sarah giggled and turned back to Steve. Sam had almost missed this part of the video because he and everyone else was laughing. She was looking at Steve.**

**_You’ll always be the best present since I was twelve. Thank you for always being there for me, Dheaidí. My favorite person in the world… you’re tied with mom._ **

**_Well, I don’t think anyone could ever beat your mother._ **

The video cut off after Sarah gave Steve a hug and he kissed her temple. The video always made Steve smile. There weren’t lots of private, candid moments of the two caught on camera. Especially since the first few years, Steve didn’t really think about it. He sighed and put the phone. 

“Happy Birthday, Babydoll,” he said to no one in particular as he looked at the sky. 

A car entered the compound and abruptly stopped in front of him. Tony rolled down the window. 

“Let me guess, he turned into a baby.” 

“Among other things.”

“EPR Paradox,” Tony said as he stepped out of the car. “Instead of pushing Lang through time, you could push time through him. Tricky, dangerous. Someone could’ve warned you against it.” 

“Okay, Tony you did. We get it. So you just want us to give up?”

Tony just looked at him.

“What?”

“Here, fully functioning time-space GPS. Should fix the problem.”

“Tony…”

“Wait. So we get the stones, okay. But I have priorities. I have to keep what I have at all costs. We don’t change right now, we just bring them back. And maybe not die trying.”

Steve nodded in understanding like Tony knew he would. If anyone was on the same page as Tony when it came to family, it was obviously Steve. And he wouldn’t ruin Tony’s now. Tony walked to the trunk of his car and pulled out Steve’s shield. 

“Had to wrestle Morgan for it, she’s been using it as a sled.”

“More use than I would’ve given it,” Steve gave a dry chuckle as he took the shield back.


	32. Chapter 32

“Clint.” Steve shook his hand and then pulled him into a hug. 

The two of them were in the exact same boat, knowing how it felt. Steve looked at the sleeve that Clint got. Clint pointed to Steve’s tattoo on his bicep. 

“Looks like we had the same thought.”

“Ha, yeah. Spur of the moment.”

“You never did have great impulse control.”

“Not at all.”

The two of them laughed. They weren’t big laughs but they were genuine and that’s all that really mattered. Clint decided he would go through for the test run of the machine now that Tony had worked on it. Clint suited up, ready to go. They sent Clint through and ten seconds later he came back holding a baseball glove. It worked. This time heist actually worked. 

“Alright. We’ve got the how now we just have to figure out the when and where. We have limited particles to retrieve the stones. This has to be perfect,” Steve entered into Captain mode, he might’ve stopped being Captain America five years ago but clearly leading never left his blood.

“We know almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones.” 

Tony paced back and forth in front of the holographic panel. They had to time this perfectly, no errors, no do overs. The teams were decided. Rhodey, Nebula, Nat, and Clint were going to space to retrieve the Soul Stone and Power Stone. Pietro, Thor, and Rocket were going to Asgard for the Reality Stone. Tony, Bruce, Steve, and Scott were headed to New York in 2012 to retrieve the other three. 

Steve entered the large garage where the time machine was held looking like someone the team almost didn’t recognize. He had shaved, his hair was cut short, and was wearing his old suit that still had the star underneath the nanotech of the time machine suits. He figured if they were going to be spotted in 2012, he needed to look like his former self. They all looked to him for a pep talk as he stepped onto the platform.

“Alright. There’s enough for one round trip each. We can’t mess this up. No mistakes. Most of us are going somewhere we know but that doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Stay sharp and stay safe. We meet back in five minutes.” 

Tony flew up to the top floor of Avengers Tower and snuck into the tower with a tiny Ant-man on his shoulder. 

“Oh, Mr. Rogers I forgot that suit did nothing for your ass.”

“No one asked you to look, Tony.”

“I think you look great, Cap,” Scott said. “As far as I’m concerned that’s America’s ass.” 

“Alright, STRIKE team’s got the scepter. Going back down the elevator. Coming your way Cap,” Tony said. 

“On it.” 

Steve pressed the button to open the doors to a crowded elevator full of S.H.I.E.L.D— HYDRA— agents. This wasn’t going to be like that last time. He knew who they were, what to do. Steve got in, settling himself right in the middle of all of them. 

“Captain, I thought you were coordinating search and rescue,” Sitwell said. 

“Hey, Cap.”

“Rumlow.” Steve tried to keep his voice professional and light. “I just got a call from the secretary, I’m running point on the scepter.” 

“Hmm?”

“Got word there might be an attempt to steal it.”

“I’m gonna have to call the Director.” Sitwell started to reach for his phone.

“That’s alright, trust me.” Steve leaned over to whisper in Sitwell’s ear. “Hail HYDRA.”

When he stood back up straight, Sitwell looked at Rumlow and nodded. Steve smirked as he got off the elevator. He kept walking in the direction down the hall where the second elevator should be if he remembered the Tower correctly. Steve heard what sounded like Fury’s voice. 

“We’re sorry we couldn’t get to you sooner, Miss Rogers. And that today isn’t exactly the most desirable time.” 

“It’s okay. He’s nice, right?” 

“Steve’s the nicest person you’ll meet. Got a stick up his ass but nicest person you could know.” 

Steve heard Sarah's soft giggle at that. He kept walking past the office where he saw his twelve year old daughter coming out of the bathroom to where Nick was waiting. Steve paused. He couldn’t help himself but just look at his child. 

“I’ll try to find spare shoes but at least you’re not in HYDRA clothes anymore,” Nick said. 

“When do I get to go home?”

“As soon as Captain Rogers finishes his mission. An hour or two, so for now we just wait here.” 

Steve snapped out of it as he watched Sarah flop over to where the chair was. Nick was right, he wasn’t speaking to Steve but he was right. As soon as he finished the mission he could go home and see her. Sarah could come home. So could Sam and Bucky. He’d have his family back. He finally started to walk off and sighed seeing what was right in front of him. 

“Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me,” Steve said as he came face to face with Captain America.

* * *

Clint and Nat both drew their weapons when they heard a voice greet them on Vormir. The cloaked figure said their names and while they didn’t lower their weapons, they tentatively took a few steps forward.

“Who are you?” Nat asked.

“A guide of sorts.”

“Great. Tell us where to find it and we’ll be on the way.”

“If only it were that easy.” 

The cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself as Red Skull. The two Avengers looked at each other. They lowered their weapons, keeping them out by their sides though, and started to follow Red Skull. He led them right up to a cliff’s edge and they slowly started to put the pieces together. Nat shook her head. 

“There’s got to be another way.”

“A soul for the Soul Stone. There is no other way,” Red Skull said. 

Red Skull just stood near the edge as the two walked off to contemplate. Clint was insisting there was another way while Nat just sat down on a rock to think. She worked out through it while Clint listened and they both knew there was no second option. Red Skull was right. 

“Whatever it takes,” Nat muttered. 

“Whatever it takes.” 

Nat looked over not liking the tone of Clint’s voice. She saw him looking out at the cliff and stood up quickly to grab his arm. 

“Clint whatever you’re thinking no. You have a family. Laura, your kids.”

Clint swallowed. “Should remember their dad in a good way… don’t give me that look Nat. We both know I’ve done terrible things these past years, you don’t recover from that. Let me go out a hero again.” 

“Clint.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered before punching her hard in the face so she would let go. 

By the time she recovered, there was nothing Nat could do as she stretched out an arm and watched Clint jump over the cliff. The Soul Stone fell into her hand but she couldn’t move, not right away. 

* * *

“We blew it. It was six stones or nothing. Six stones or nothing,” Scott said as he paced back and forth.

“Do we need the Tesseract if we have the scepter?” Steve asked. 

“Scepter’s not enough of the Space Stone. Tesseract would’ve guaranteed that and more.” 

They were all sitting around the rubble of trashed New York trying to figure out what to do. Tony, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of a car left in the rubble, knocked on the dashboard. 

“Are there any other options with the Tesseract?” Steve asked. “Time periods we know it’s in, we’ll ju—” 

“No,” Scott said. “There’s no other options! We don’t have enough particles.”

Tony was staring out in the distance as well when he jumped up. 

“We have more Space Stone… but you’re not going to like it, Cap.”

They traveled back to the compound where they waited for everyone else. Once the others arrived, Steve did a quick head count. They were missing a person. 

“Nat, where’s Clint?” 

She couldn’t speak. It was dead silent. Everyone looked at their feet in disbelief as Nebula explained the Soul Stone. Nat finally found her voice. 

“He wanted to go out a hero, an Avenger again. I say we get this working and honor that.” 

The team nodded and handed their stones to Tony, Rocket, and Bruce. Steve went up into the apartment and into Sarah's room. He flicked on the light. The whole place was pristine, FRIDAY had kept it clean of dust. Sarah still had the straw icosidodecahedrons hung up on the ceiling. The bookshelf was full of various books and trinkets from missions— he never got the yak one he said he would get her. The stuffed bunny was laying in the middle of the bed. Steve walked over to the vanity. There were polaroids and photobooth pictures tucked and taped around the mirror edges of Sarah and her friends. He smiled looking at them and at the expo marker message she had written atop the mirror— after five years, Steve was sure it wasn’t coming off anymore— **_Beautiful Me starring Babydoll…_**

Steve opened the top drawer that held her various bonnets and headscarves to get what he needed. Tony was right, the two blades from her palms were still glowing blue even after all this time. They were too hot to touch without protection so Steve kept them wrapped in the headscarf and closed the drawer. When he got downstairs, Tony, Bruce, and Rocket were already halfway through the glove. Tony carefully took the blades from Steve. 

“Tony… this better work. That’s all I have left of her.”

“We’ll be careful, Steve. And we’ll get it right.”

Steve walked out, having faith in Tony but still feeling anxious. It had to work. That’s what he kept telling himself. It would work and soon he’d hear Sam calling for him. He he’d Bucky making fun of him. And he’d hear Sarah yelling for him over something that was probably trivial and more than likely Peter-related. Steve chuckled to himself at the thought. They would probably be in for a bit of a surprise that he had shaved. Steve sat on the couch, eating a very plain dinner, when he heard knocking. He called for them to come in and was greeted with Nat, Pietro, and Thor. 

“Rhodey, Nebula, and Scott are keeping the others company… we thought you could use some,” Nat said gently. 

Steve nodded. “Thank you, guys.”

They all sat down on the couch while Steve got up to fix them some dinner. It was eaten mainly in silence. Towards the end of the night, they started sharing stories of the past and talking about what they would do when everyone came back. 

* * *

“Alright, glove’s finished,” Rocket said. “Now the question is, who’s going to snap their fingers?”

Thor jumped up, only to be stopped by basically everybody. He was still hurting, it was understandable why he would want to do it. 

“Just wait,” Steve said. “We should at least discuss it.” 

“Look. Sitting here and standing about isn’t going to bring everybody back. I’m the strongest Avenger, okay? So let me,” Thor started.

“I’m telling you, you’re in no condition,” Tony said. “And we want everyone alive. We’ve already lost someone, don’t need another.” 

“Do you know what is coursing through my veins?”

“Cheese Whiz?” Rhodey retorted. 

“Lightning. We need to do it… do something good, something right, do…”

“It’s not that simple, buddy. That glove holds enough energy to light up a continent,” Tony said. 

“I’ll do it,” Bruce said. “I’ve spent months in the gamma lab. I’m the closest here to Thanos’ composition and I should be able to withstand it.”

“You sure, Bruce?” Natasha asked. 

“You saw what those stones did to Thanos, they almost killed him. It’s up to me.”

Everyone looked at each other. Bruce was right.

“Alright,” Tony said. “Remember, bring back everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago. Don’t touch the now.” 

“Got it.” 

They all suited up to protect themselves from the potential blast of the stones. If it went wrong, there was a possibility that nothing would happen which would suck but they’d move on like they had already been doing. There was also the much scarier consequence that they would all die— no one wanted to think about that option. The glove stretched around Bruce’s hand. He suddenly kneeled under the power of the stones. Thor yelled for him to take it off but Bruce assured everyone that he was fine. The glove smoked until Bruce snapped. Nothing happened. But they weren’t concerned about that. Bruce, whose arm was charred and smoking, was the main focus. He was groaning as he laid on the floor. 

“Don’t move him,” Tony said as Steve approached. 

Tony blasted something from the Iron Man suit to ease the pain. 

“Did it work?” Bruce asked. 

“We’re not sure, are you okay?” Thor asked as he knelt next to his friend.

They slowly sat Bruce up and assessed the damage. Not too bad once the smoke had settled, just a wicked radiation burn that probably would’ve killed most other people. The gamma from Hulk made it look more like a burn from fire. Scott stared out the window when they all heard it. Birds. They all smiled, it actually worked. Steve got up once he knew that Bruce was fine and joined Scott by the window. 

The corners of his mouth lifted as he watched the birds when he and Scott saw the spaceship invade the view of the window. Before anyone could react, the ship blasted missiles at the window. The missiles busted through the compound and blew them all backwards. Everyone tried to clear the way and find some sort of safety as the entire compound was being blasted by missiles. The compound crumbled around them. 

“Lower levels flooded!” Rhodey yelled in the comms. 

“What?!” Scott yelled back. 

“I’m on it! I’m on it!” Scott said. 

“Has anyone seen Natasha?!” Steve yelled once he recovered.

The crackle of Nat’s comm came in, it was faint but they could hear it. “Sewers… running from alien dogs. I got the glove.” 

“What the hell is going on?” Thor asked as he found Steve. 

Tony appeared next to them. He shoved the shield back to Steve. “Look, you lose this again and I’m keeping it. Mess with time, it tends to mess back.”

“Look.”

Thor pointed and the other two men followed where his finger was pointing. It was Thanos. This was time messing back. This was about to be the battle at Wakanda all over again. But they weren’t losing this time. Whatever the purple giant thought was going to happen they were going to make sure it didn’t come to fruition. 

“The stones are with Nat,” Steve commented as they watched Thanos just sit there.

“Somewhere under all this,” Tony said. 

“So we know he doesn’t have them. Let’s keep it that way.”

“You know it’s a trap, right?” Thor asked. 

“Yeah,” Steve said tightly. “I don’t care all that much.”

“Good. Just as long as we’re all in agreement.”

“Same page, Lebowski,” Tony said.

Thor held out his hands and lightning hit him and his Mjolnir and axe flew into his hands. 

“Let’s kill him properly this time,” Thor said as the lightning in him died down. 

“You could not live with your own failure,” Thanos said as they approached. “And where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life that the other half would thrive. But you have shown me that’s impossible as long as there are those that remember what was. They will resist.”

“Yep, we’re all kinds of stubborn,” Tony snarked back. 

“Thank you for that. Because now I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to it’s last atom. And then with the stones you’ve collected for me, create a new one teaming with life that knows not what it’s lost but what it’s been given. A grateful universe.” 

Thanos grabbed his helmet and weapon. The lightning started coursing through Thor again. Tony brought down the mask of his suit.

“Born of blood,” Steve said as he readjusted his shield. 

“They’ll never know it. Because you won’t be alive to tell them.”

Tony was sick of the talking and started blasting beams at Thanos, causing Steve and Thor to spring into action as well.

“Thor, hit me!” 

Tony used the lightning from Thor to generate some high beams and throw them at Thanos. Thanos grabbed Tony to use as a shield just as Thor threw Mjolnir. The man had gone flying, his helmet almost coming off. Thor and Steve didn’t let up until Thanos punched the God of Thunder in the face. The punch was so strong it knocked Thor down and Thanos took the chance to try and shove Thor’s axe into his chest until the Mjolnir smacked Thanos in the face. He and Thor both looked over to see Steve.

“I knew it,” Thor said with a smile.

Thanos let go of the axe and kicked Thor in the face, knocking out the Asgardian. Steve swung the Mjolnir, bringing in a line of lightning towards the purple giant’s direction. Thanos swung around his weapon as he started to approach Steve. Steve fought as long as he could but this Thanos had a new vigor knowing he had already beat them before. Thanos had knocked Steve clear across the compound. 

“In my years of conquest, it was never personal. But I’ll tell you now, what I’m about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet I’m gonna enjoy it, very very much… you just don’t know when to give up, do you?” 

Thanos watched Steve stand up. His breathing was labored and when he stood up it took him a moment to stop swaying. Thanos huffed out a laugh and Steve looked up to see lots of ships. Some were sending down beams and ground soldiers came out. Steve looked down to see his shield, the paint from where the blades hit had it scraped and chipped. He adjusted the shield with a wince. Thanos just stared as Steve walked towards him with a slight limp. 

“Hey, Cap. Can you read me? On your left.” 

The sound caused Steve to stop mid-step. 

“Cap? Do you hear me?”

“What?” Steve asked, breathless. 

Five years and Steve thought now wasn’t the time to start hallucinating Sam’s voice. He looked around at the grim scene of a broken down compound when he saw a single portal behind him. 

“He said on your left, Dheaidí.” Sarah ran out of the portal trying to get to Steve as quickly as possible.


	33. Chapter 33

Out of the portals, Steve watched everyone start to appear. Tony and Thor finally got up to join the masses. 

“This everyone?” Strange asked. 

Wong looked at him. “You wanted more people?”

T’Challa started to chant in Xhosa as the rest of the Wakandan army chanted back in a call and response as they walked in. Scott, now a giant, bursted through the crumbled up compound. They all started to pick up the chant the Wakandans were yelling and soon everyone was shouting in Xhosa. Steve smiled as Sarah stood next to him, chanting with the rest of them. 

“Avengers!” Steve called. 

Mjolnir flew right into Sarah's hands and she passed it to her dad. Steve gripped the hammer and looked back at Thanos. 

“Assemble.” 

The fighting was brutal and intense. In the end it became just like the Battle at Wakanda— Thanos had the stones and they had to stop him. Thanos knocked Tony back. Thor hit him before Thanos could grab the gauntlet. He held the axe to Thanos’ neck and that sprung Steve and Bucky into action. They ran behind Thanos to hold him. The axe almost cut him before Thanos threw his head back to knock Steve and Bucky off and then slammed forward into Thor to knock him off again. 

Thanos slipped the gauntlet on. Carol blasted beams at him while Sam tried to swoop in and grab the stones. Carol grappled with the gauntlet, keeping Thanos’ fingers spread far apart. Thanos grabbed the power stone from the gauntlet and used it in his other hand, to knock Sam away and then her. They thought they had an opportunity when Thanos froze mid-air. 

Sarah wasn't sure how long she could hold him, clearly using the Space Stone wasn’t a power Sarah was very developed in. The team was struggling to pull the gauntlet off but felt like they had a chance. Thanos was using the Space Stone and Power Stone on the gauntlet to fight against her. He broke out when Sarah panicked and noticed him flinch the first time. She quickly regained focus and held him but he knew that he had some wiggle room. 

“Sarah!” Thor called. “Just a little longer.”

“I’m trying! I swear I’m…not again.” 

Some of the team looked over. Tony recognized the look on Sarah's face and they all saw the red glow of the Reality Stone. Thanos had the opportunity to move again as she reached up to turn off the hearing aids. The team watched as Thanos’ smile turned more solemn. They looked back to Sarah, her feet were coated in hardened Space Stone, glueing her to the spot. The vibration let Sarah know where Thanos was and she focused all her energy on holding him even in a different reality. But now she was left vulnerable and if they could take you out, they would win. 

Peter swung by and knocked out the first alien as it got near Sarah. The team scrambled even more to take the gauntlet but with all the stones, even as she held him, Thanos was beating them. Steve heard Peter grunt and looked back over to see aliens had swarmed them and were overwhelming Spider-Man. Sarah couldn’t hear a thing and was still in the pitch black that Thanos had created. Steve looked at the purple giant whose fingers he was keeping open. 

He had a choice and it wasn’t a hard one to make. He wasn’t Captain America, he was Steve Rogers. And after all those years, Steve Rogers was a selfish man. He left Thanos and swooped up his shield, throwing it at the alien that had gotten close enough to scratch Sarah. Thor had taken Steve’s place but Steve didn’t care if no one had. He was invested in protecting his daughter. 

Sarah's palms glowed bright blue with the stone as the full Space Stone on Thanos’ gauntlet glowed bright blue as well. And then her concentration broke. The blades on her palm fell off abruptly. The hardening stone around Sarah's feet shattered. Steve heard her scream and turned to catch Sarah as she fell to the ground. Sarah shook her head thinking she had just cost the team a win. Thanos chuckled holding the hand with the gauntlet up. 

“I told you, I am inevitable. This universe can’t avoid me.”

Everyone watched. Steve clutched Sarah tight, bracing for as Thanos put it… the inevitable. The giant snapped and nothing happened. He looked at the gauntlet to see the stones were empty. Everyone looked around. Sarah felt the two knocks and looked up from the ground. 

“Think fast,” Pietro said, causing everyone to look at him. 

Before Thanos could make a move, the man snapped. The white light from the snap was blinding and when it died down Sarah looked over to see the side of Pietro’s body was completely charred. 

“Pietro!” Wanda screamed. 

He dropped to the dirt. Sarah turned on her hearing aids in record time. She screamed in Steve’s arms like a wounded animal, struggling against him, and he quickly let go. 

“Pietro, Pietro.” Sarah scrambled over to where he had knelt down. 

Wanda came and the other girl immediately moved over to make room. She brushed his hair out of his face and Pietro’s eyes seemed to not fully focus on either one of them. All of the Avengers watched in silence as the two sat him up and tried to keep him awake. His hands faintly reached up and brushed the sides of Sarah and Wanda’s faces. 

“Five years without you two. I finally got to see you again.”

Wanda was shaking her head. “We can fix this. Just stay up and we can— we can fix this.”

“Listen to Wanda… no, don’t close your eyes.”

Pietro gave a feeble laugh. “Okay, doll. I’ll stay awake… sorry, you’re not my d—”

“No, no Pietro. I’m your doll. You and Wanda’s кукла. I can’t keep being your doll if you don’t stay awake.” 

Wanda clutched his face in her hands and Pietro looked at her. 

“I went to the Statue of Liberty without you,” Pietro started. “She’s just a big green lady, nothing special.” 

Wanda laughed through her tears. Pietro sighed and the next breath came out labored and both Sarah and Wanda knew it was over. The two dropped to sitting positions, each grabbing one of his hands. Wanda nodded at Sarah.

“It’s okay Pietro. You can rest now,” Wanda whispered.

“It’ll be nice to slow down.”

“Mmm hmm. Nice and slow.”

Pietro’s hand felt cold. Sarah and Wanda rested their heads on each other for a few moments. Wanda was still crying but the tear stains on Sarah's cheeks had dried up. She stood up and let Wanda have a moment with her brother. Steve, Sam, and Bucky came up to Sarah giving her huge hugs. 

“Are you okay?” Bucky asked. 

“I will be… where’s Uncle Clint?” 

Steve swallowed. Should he really tell Sarah after Pietro just died? He didn’t have to make the decision, she figured out by his face alone. 

“Oh.”

“Sarah, honey. How are you, really?” Sam asked. 

She didn’t seem to register her own tears that had started running down her face again. 

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not the first time.”

“Oh, Babydoll.” 

Steve pulled her in for a hug as the tears poured down again. He cooed and tried to comfort her. The tears stopped rather abruptly which might have concerned the others if it wasn’t for the fact they knew this was normal for Sarah. After her mother, death and processing death tended to happen quickly for Sarah. The sadness would occur for mere minutes and then she'd go numb for a while and then suddenly get over it. Most of the time she didn’t even register she was sad during the grieving process. They all stood in the dirt of the trashed compound.

“I guess we need a new home now,” Natasha muttered and everyone looked around. 

“Maybe not.” 

Sarah left Steve’s arms and walked back over to where the stones were laying by Pietro. She grabbed the Space Stone. Unlike everyone else, it didn’t burn her. Thor said Heimdall used the Tesseract to repair the Rainbow Bridge. Sarah was thinking— hoping— maybe she could use the Space Stone to fix the compound. She started with what she perceived to be the easiest part which was cleaning up the dirt and restoring the grass. 

It would be easier with the Time Stone but Sarah didn’t know how to use it, thinking that it might not be easy to hold because she was only injected with parts of the Space Stone. And Strange didn’t want to risk him using it in case it somehow brought Thanos back and they had worked so hard to finally get rid of him. The hardest part was the compound itself. Sarah tried to picture it as best as possible but she wasn't there for the initial build and Sarah had never asked Tony to look at the blueprints. When Sarah opened her eyes, the compound was built— not entirely correct. 

“Uh, I can try again… Uncle Tony where exactly is the part on top supposed to go?”

“I think that’s the second floor of the offices and the training room?”

“That should do it… It looks nice but someone should probably check the plumbing before anyone uses the bathroom.” 

* * *

Tony held the funeral for Clint and Pietro at his cabin— deciding to keep it as a getaway of sorts for him and his family. No one bothered Sarah or Clint’s kids as they sat at the edge of the lake when they did the send off, not feeling like they could look directly at their funeral wreaths drift away. Sarah gave Lila and Cooper hugs. Laura had walked over to give Sarah a hug as well before the family left with a promise to visit once they weren’t mourning terribly anymore. Pepper tried to grab Morgan as she ran off and sat next to the older girl. 

“You’re the girl Daddy talks about,” she said as she moved to sit on Sarah. 

“And you’re Morgan?”

Steve had told Sarah about all the changes that had occurred while she had been gone. The adults watched as Morgan talked animatedly to her. She was smiling at Morgan and attentively listening.

“Daddy said you can’t hear well. Do you really talk with your hands?”

Sarah nodded and Morgan looked at her with excitement. Morgan leaned up, forcing Sarah to dip her head so Morgan could reach her ear. 

“I have a secret question to ask you.”

Sarah pulled back and looked at her. 

_Do you like cheeseburgers?_ Morgan signed. 

The adults didn’t know what Morgan did but they did know the sound of Sarah laughing was something they enjoyed, it was the first time they heard her laugh during her numb stage. Sarah nodded her head fiercely as she signed back that she liked them. Steve let Sarah and Morgan talk while they whirred up the machine to return all the stones. When he came back, she was up and had Morgan propped on her hip. Tony and Pepper had a feeling their daughter would get attached to Sarah easily. They all watched as the nanotech on Steve turned off and he was back in normal clothes instead of the time travel suit. 

“Sam.” 

The man came jogging over from where he was talking to Nat. He looked down in confusion when the shield was shoved in his hands. Sam turned it over and then stuck it out for Steve but he shook his head. 

“It’s yours now. America needs a new Captain. I’m not that anymore.” 

Sam hesitantly grabbed the shield with more force and held it at his side. “What are you gonna do, babe?”

“Cap has a new title. And I finally have retirement,” Nick said as he stepped from the shadow of the cabin. 

“Fury, you’re leaving?” Nat asked. 

“I trust S.H.I.E.L.D. to only one man. From this day on, it’s just Nick. You want to complain to HR, you can direct your attention to Director Wilson-Rogers.” 

Nick saluted Steve one last time. As her dad’s arm came down, Sarah noticed something underneath the short sleeve t-shirt. Shifting Morgan so she had one hand free, Sarah pointed at Steve. 

“What is that?” 

Steve flipped over the sleeve of his t-shirt to reveal the tattoo to her.

“No, did you get a tattoo, Dheaidí?!” Her question brought everyone’s attention to Steve. 

“Really, punk?” Bucky asked.

“I really thought I lost you all.”

“Well, you’re stuck with us… and with that.”

“Alright I get it.”

“I think it looks nice,” Sam said. 

“Thank you, babe.”

“Dad’s lying,” Sarah said. “Morgan can you repeat it with me… Dad’s lying… unless I can get a tattoo.”

“Ha, no.” Both Steve and Sam said at the same time.

“Okay, then I meant what I said about it.” 

Sarah set Morgan down and patted her head before the child ran off to go find her parents. Sarah looked over to see a boy on the porch that she hadn’t actively talked to since being back. Peter had been giving her space after Pietro and Clint, knowing she needed it at least until the funeral. Sarah started walking his way. 

“Peter Parker.”

He chuckled as he approached her. Sarah rested her arms on his shoulders and his hands automatically found her waist. 

“Sarah Wilson-Rogers. Fortunate we both got blipped, I don’t think I could handle a girlfriend in college.”

Sarah laughed as he gave her a goofy smile before pecking her on the lips. The two pulled back before practically crashing their lips against each other. Sarah held his face in her hands as he kissed her, Peter’s hands pulling her closer. When they finally pulled away the two looked at each other. 

“Hi,” Sarah said in a small voice.

“Hi.”

* * *

Tony, Steve, and Bruce took on new roles in S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve was now Director and both Tony and Bruce stayed in the labs. Thor was technically an Avenger but considering he left with Rocket and the other guardians, they weren’t sure when he’d come back. Although he promised to visit more often than before. Especially since he wanted to check up on Mjolnir. Now that he had the axe, the hammer rested in Steve’s new office. 

Sarah and Peter laced up their shoes at the door to the Wilson-Rogers' apartment while Steve was pouring his coffee into a tumbler after coming back from his morning run that he still did with Sam and Bucky. Now that he was Director, and because he had missed her, Steve insisted he was able to drive Sarah to school for the rest of the school year. She told him she was getting a license over summer, or would try. It was only a couple months left but thankfully Midtown decided that students who had been blipped would be allowed to finish the school year in the year they got blipped and would take summer to catch up and move into the next grade like normal.

“You kids ready?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Am I picking you up right away or are you going to Peter’s?” 

“We’re having dinner with May.” 

“Alright.” 

The three of them headed out the door and to the garage.


	34. Chapter 34

“Sarah, sweetheart, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Says the man who’s been throwing the shield for two hours straight.”

“Alright,” Sam conceded. “How about we both take a break?”

Sarah nodded. She and Sam left the newest area of the training room designed for them. It looked like nothing more than a long hallway. The purpose was so Sam could learn how to throw the shield and really use it as an extension of his body the way Steve used to. Sarah was trying to figure out all she could do with the Space Stone. Everyone insisted it wasn’t that necessary but she was determined. The unspoken reason was in case something like Thanos ever happened again, Sarah felt that she should be in the best condition possible to help fight. 

Sam turned off the training room lights since no one else was there and they went back to the apartment. Steve was sitting at the dining room table instead of his office, going over the mid-mission progress report that he had received from Bucky’s mission and a few lower level missions. He looked up when he heard the door close. 

“Oh, look, it’s my two favorite superheroes.” 

Both Sarah and Sam rolled their eyes in jest at his comment. Walking over, Sam gave Steve a kiss and Sarah gave him a hug. She pulled the mission report off of the table before Steve could grab it from her. 

“You’re always touching everything, get off the table. What about the report is even interesting to you?” he asked. 

“Nothing, Dheaidí, I just want to look at it,” Sarah said, not jumping down from the table. “Question.”

“Answer,” Steve and Sam responded. 

“If Peter and I wanted to go on a nighttime date outside the compound tomorrow… without a chaperone, what would you say?”

“Where? Itinerary?” Steve set down his papers.

“So that’s a yes?”

“That’s a we’ll see depending on your next answer.” 

“Dinner at the diner by school and the Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“They still do that show?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah, every Friday.”

Sam and Steve looked at each other and shrugged. 

“I don’t see why not. I’m assuming you want Happy to bring you guys back.”

“No we want to stay out and book a hotel room instead… kidding! Kidding, we’re just going to get Insomnia Cookies after the show. Can Happy drop us off?”

Steve and Sam agreed and Sarah finally jumped down from the table, handing Steve back the page of his report. They watched their daughter skip to her room telling FRIDAY to call Peter so she could tell him how her parents agreed. Steve’s hand instinctively reached for Sam. It had been a couple weeks since everyone had come back and in that time, he had become very touchy feely. Especially when it came to Sarah, Sam, Bucky, or Nat. Steve still felt like they all might disappear again. Bucky didn’t mind but it took some time for other Avengers to get used to the constant touching from Steve. 

If anyone were to walk past her room, it would once again look empty. Sarah had a tendency to forget to charge her hearing aids and didn’t want to risk them turning off at Rocky Horror. So while they were charging, she was sitting in the bathtub on FaceTime with Peter in order to sign with him. He didn’t know a few words every now and then, but for the most part he had come really far in his learning. Their families always teased that Sarah and Peter were sickly sweet with the puppy love. The events of the rest of the night would prove them correct. 

Instead of getting off FaceTime, the two of them turned the cameras around to shower and change into pajamas before turning them back and finishing their nightly routines. Sarah walked into the bedroom, grabbing a fully charged hearing aid and popping it in. The room was dimly lit with only the lamp on the nightstand as Sarah buried herself under blankets and turned on her side to keep talking to Peter. He looked away while he was telling her a story and when his attention was back on the screen he saw her eyes were closed.

“Goodnight, Sarah. I love you,” Peter whispered, taking a picture and hanging up. 

* * *

“Sarah, are you going to go on the grade trip?” MJ asked as she approached her friend's locker. 

“The Europe one? Nah, they already made us take June to catch up after blipping, I’m taking the rest of my summer away from the establishment. Besides, the trip is the same time I’m going to New Asgard.”

“New Asgard?”

“Yeah, the Tesseract. Space Stone stuff and my powers.” Sarah closed her locker and the two of them started walking to the cafeteria. 

“Sounds fun, I’ll miss you on the trip.”

“Take plenty of pictures for me.”

“Of course.” 

The two sat down across from Ned and Peter. Peter felt like he was going to shrink under her gaze. He was positive Sarah didn’t blink once as she observed him. He was about to ask if something was on his face or if he did something wrong when he saw her move her left hand from where it was resting under her chin. Peter watched the pointer finger, pinky, and thumb unfurl from her fist. The sign for I love you. Sarah wouldn’t look at him as she signed it. Her chin was now resting on her right hand and she looked at everyone around the cafeteria, observing new faces from those that weren’t blipped and now were in their grade. 

“I heard you the other night,” Sarah whispered. 

Peter’s face turned red. He meant the confession with his whole heart but that didn’t mean he was necessarily ready for his girlfriend to hear it. Sarah didn’t say anything else as she put the hand down. Peter didn’t even have the chance to feel awkward about it as Sarah distracted him by taking the comic book out of his hand to read it. 

“No! Peter Parker did you buy your own comic?” She whisper-yelled so no one else would hear. 

“Hey! It’s my first merch. They gave me a whole series after I got snapped and I missed so many volumes. You might be used to it but I’m not, and turn to page eight,” Peter said as Sarah flipped. “I got this issue ‘cause Ned told me.”

“It gets boring after awhile, unless you’re Uncle Tony… or Uncle Bruce.” 

Sarah did as he said to see her hero moniker, Gemstone, waiting on the balcony of an apartment that looked nothing like May’s place but a lot like Steve’s old Brooklyn one. The next panel was Spider-man hanging upside down, mask halfway off, as Gemstone held his face while she kissed him. 

“They ship our heroes,” Peter said with a smile. 

“Congrats you two, your relationship has been validated,” MJ joked. “However no one knows you’re behind the mask, Spiderling.” 

Ned pointed to the comic that now laid flat on the table. “Have you two ever tried that?”

This time it was Sarah's turn to feel heat rise to her cheeks, blessing the heavens that only the red on Peter’s face would be noticed by anyone. Peter grabbed the book and shoved it back in his backpack while she sputtered through a ‘no’ and gulped down water. Having classes with Ned and MJ for the rest of the day meant she and Peter were incessantly teased until school was over and the couple could leave for their date. 

* * *

“I’m pulling you out of school a couple days early next week,” Steve said as Sarah entered his office.

Steve figured it must’ve been late if Sarah was already back from her date with Peter. He should’ve been upstairs but he wanted to finish checking all the files he had been sent. Nick conveniently forgot to mention that Steve wouldn’t be doing just mission reports from agents but paperwork from the different boards in the UN that the S.H.I.E.L.D. branch worked with. He wasn’t as bad as Tony when it came to staying late but Sam chewed his ear about as much as Pepper did Tony. So Steve was glad Sam sent Sarah to retrieve him instead. 

“Okay, we’re not doing anything on the last day of school anyway, what’s the mission?” 

Sarah plopped down in the chair handing him one of the Insomnia Cookies. Steve looked down at her shirt. He had to restrain himself from making a hum on disapproval at the giant Spider-man mask on the front of the shirt. Sarah didn’t own anything Winter Soldier or Falcon or Captain America, from when it was him or Sam. He recalled seeing only three pieces of Avengers merchandise in his daughter's closet. 

An Iron-Man onesie that Tony thought was hilarious, the Black Widow sweatpants Nat requested Sarah wear after seeing Tony’s merch, and the large t-shirt Sarah pulled out when she was missing Clint and Pietro because memorial shirts were made for them. Not once did she ever request their clothes though. Steve thought, yeah it was a little petty to be jealous of his daughter’s boyfriend but they were his family first. Was it too hard to get a shirt? They all got her merch and each other’s— Sam’s favorite thing odd enough were the Winter Soldier sweatpants. Steve took the cookie and ignored the shirt. 

“No mission, Babydoll. Family vacation.” 

“Vacation?”

“Just you and me. I know we haven’t really done anything as just the two of us since moving into the compound.” 

“Dad won’t mind? Or Uncle Jamie, Aunty Nat?”

“I’ve already talked about it with them, they’re just fine… So what do you think?”

“I like that Dheaidí. You’re right… I’m taking it back if you keep giving me the annoying parent look… I was going to say, you’re right, we haven’t been Steve and Sarah since D.C. Where are we going?”

“I was thinking of your favorite place in the world, Tink.”

“Vancouver?”

Steve looked at her so confused. “I…”

“I’m joking. But can we go somewhere else?”

“Anywhere you want.”

“Aunty Taylor said they traced our family’s ancestry to parts of the Ivory Coast. Can we go there? And Ireland?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Awesome. Oh, Dad said if you’re not upstairs in ten minutes that you’re sleeping on the couch. Uncle Jamie said he’ll hide one of the cushions and good luck sleeping.” 

Steve shook his head and logged out of his computer. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”


End file.
